The New York State Dept. of Transportation has proposed building a cap over part of the Kensington Expressway in East Buffalo, but the plan has drawn concerns from local residents.
Photo courtesy NYSDOT
The New York State Dept. of Transportation is not appealing a state court order requiring it to conduct an environmental impact statement for its $1.5-billion project to cap a portion of the Kensington Expressway in Buffalo, N.Y.
The state supreme court ordered on March 12 the agency to conduct the review before advancing the highway redevelopment plan. In February, Justice Emilio Colaiacovo ordered it to halt the project until it complied with the State Environmental Quality Review Act and prepared the analysis.
Eric Meka, state DOT region five director, said in a statement that “continuing any legal action would only lead to further delays.”
Instead of appealing the decision, Meka said he state DOT will “use this time to reignite our public engagement efforts. To be clear, we are not walking away from a major transportation project in Buffalo and remain committed to the goal of reconnecting this community.”
The court’s decision was in response to a case brought by local activists who want the expressway removed in favor of restoring the route to a local parkway and a June 2024 lawsuit brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union.
The group is “committed to working with the [state DOT] and community residents to improve the capping of the project and ensure community voices are heard and elevated,” said Lanessa Owens-Chaplin, director of its Racial Justice Center.
State officials previously maintained that impacts of the plan to cap 4,150 ft of the six-lane highway would be “minimal.” The cap would become public green space. The project would have also involved rehabilitating 9 miles of local streets and enhancing them with pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure, replacing a bridge and building a roundabout in place of an interchange.
While no specific details have been announced about how the state plans to reengage the public, Meka said the DOT will begin the process in the “coming weeks and months … laying the foundation for strong infrastructure investments that advance the transportation network across Buffalo.”
A community group that petitioned the court has called for restoration of Humboldt Parkway—which had been a tree-lined boulevard designed by Frederick Law Olmsted connecting two parks before being replaced in the 1950s and ‘60s with the below-grade Kensington Expressway. It divided neighborhoods and displaced mostly Black residents from hundreds of homes.
The group—which also argues that vehicle exhaust from inside the tunnel will become concentrated plumes at the two ends near schools and other public facilities—says capping the expressway would have ensured that the two parks would never be reconnected with a parkway.
Justin Rice is Editor for ENR East.