A recommendation for a once-in-a-generation chance to rethink the Scajaquada Expressway – eagerly awaited by those who decry the road's impact on Delaware Park and surrounding neighborhoods, but met with concern by those fearing longer commutes – was unveiled Tuesday.
And it suggests big changes.
The Scajaquada Expressway would become a realigned, at-grade two-lane parkway.
Such a design would offer benefits for Scajaquada Creek and Delaware Park, open the door for SUNY Buffalo State University to become a waterfront campus, remove the tangle of elevated on- and off-ramps at Niagara Street, and return a parkway along Humboldt Parkway from Agassiz Circle to East Delavan Avenue.
These are just some of the recommended changes suggested for the 3.6-mile-long road that were announced Tuesday by the Greater Buffalo-Niagara Regional Transportation Council, a transportation planning organization. The Scajaquada Expressway, or Route 198, was built in the 1960s. Among the recommendations: The 198 would no longer directly connect to the Kensington Expressway, or Route 33, from the east or to the Niagara Thruway from the west. Such a change would require alternate ways to connect, including new ramps at Kensington and Fillmore avenues.
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State Sen. Sean Ryan said he believes the long-contested project has finally turned the corner.
"For over 20 years, the state Department of Transportation have been unsuccessful to get the community on board to a preferred option," Ryan said. "We're there now."
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