Kensington Expressway To Be Covered In Buffalo
It looks like local, county, state, and federal officials all agree that it's time to try and correct a very bad decision that was made in Buffalo more than 60 years ago.
Many people who live in Western New York feel that the creation of the Kensington Expressway that destroyed the Humboldt Parkway in Buffalo was one of the dumbest things that have happened in Buffalo. The original Humboldt Parkway, which was described by its designer Frederick Law Olmsted as the widest and grandest street in Buffalo, was turned into a 6 lane below-grade highway which also destroyed multiple neighborhoods that were populated with untold families and businesses. Construction, which started in 1958, took 13 years to finish and completely changes the landscape of Buffalo.
Now thanks to what will amount to a $1 billion investment from Federal, State, and Local government officials are starting the process to cover part of the Kensington Expressway and restore a section of Humboldt Parkway that will be underway in the near future.
At a press conference in front of the Buffalo Museum of Science, which sits on the edge of what remains of Humboldt Parkway and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown was joined by New York State Senator Tim Kennedy, New York State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, US Congressman Brian Higgins, and other stakeholders to discuss the multi-million dollar infrastructure project that will help return a key part of Buffalo back to its original glory. While you cannot totally undo what was done in the 1950s, this is a great step forward for Western New York.
The project proposes to build a covering on the Kensignton Expressway from East Ferry Street to Best Street. That section would essentially be a tunnel, and above the tunnel would be a newly created greenspace that would attempt to recreate what was originally there.
There is no timeline that has been set yet, but even the fact that we have gotten this far means a lot to the residents of Buffalo.