NFTA Closures of Downtown Buffalo Metro Stations To Begin This Weekend

Starting Sunday and extending through November 24, all downtown above-ground NFTA Metro Rail train service will be shut down to allow for construction. 

At the same time, from October 28 to November 8, the intersection of Main and Court streets will be closed, causing interruption to Metro Bus routes 1, 2, 4, 69, 70, and 72, the transit authority says. 

Bus routes will replace train service through downtown Buffalo, starting from the Allen Station and running to Canalside and back. 

The closures will allow for improvements to be made to the tracks and overall service. 

Single-track service is expected to resume in late November, with full service to be restored by early December. 

That’s not all the NFTA is working on these days, however. 

Earlier this month, Congressman Tim Kennedy (D-26) announced the allocation of $625,000 in new funding to help create new public-private partnerships for transit-oriented affordable housing and a mixed-use development at the LaSalle and DL&W stations downtown. He said at the time the funding will help to “leverage private sector investments that maximize opportunities for multi-use transportation infrastructure development. This award will build on additional state and federal infrastructure allocations, laying the groundwork for a comprehensive Main Street corridor transformation.” 

The LaSalle Station, at the corner of Main Street and LaSalle Avenue in the University District, is an important connection between the Buffalo and Tonawanda bicycle paths. In May, Gov. Kathy Hochul encouraged transit organizations to look for proposals to examine new opportunities for increasing access to affordable housing; those proposals are now under review with the expectation of adding up to 300 new housing units and investing in excess of $100 million in that neighborhood alone. Closer to the waterfront, the DL&W Station is behind KeyBank Center and near Canalside, where work is already underway to extend the current rail into the ground floor of the building. A total of $2 million in federal funding has been set aside to support building a pedestrian bridge connecting the station to the arena, while another $1 million will be dedicated to renovating the riverwalk trail between the terminal and the Buffalo River.