Around 6:30 a.m. every morning, David Richardson is usually awakened by the increasing noise of traffic. Just steps from her front yard, thousands of cars pass by every day as they travel the Kensington Expressway, a sprawling six-lane highway that runs through her neighborhood on Buffalo’s East Side.
The expressway, built in the 1950s and 1960s to move cars more quickly between downtown Buffalo and its suburbs, has long depressed property values and stifled economic development in this low-income, predominantly black community. It also represented a physical barrier, making it more difficult for residents to reach grocery stores and parks.
New York state is now trying to revitalize the neighborhood with support from a new Biden administration program aimed at uniting mostly disadvantaged communities that have long been fragmented by transportation projects. The state plans to reconnect the neighborhood by essentially converting a portion of the highway into a tunnel with green space on top that would connect the two sides. State officials say the $1 billion project, supported by a $55.6 million federal grant, will improve pedestrian access and spur economic growth.
The effort has sparked intense reactions among some residents, who believe it will do little to combat air pollution or increase access to economic opportunities. They include Richardson, 69, a retired electrician who moved to the neighborhood nearly a decade ago. He said he didn’t think covering a section of the highway would do much to improve air quality in the area and would rather see the highway completely destroyed.
The Biden administration has promised to reverse long-standing racial disparities through the new program. But in some cities, projects aimed at restoring neighborhoods have sparked divisive debates over how best to rectify the damage left by highways. In Buffalo, the state’s project, which would essentially create a tunnel to enclose a three-quarters-mile stretch of highway, has raised concerns that pollution could worsen near the ends of the tunnel.
“NO TOXIC TUNNEL” signs are scattered across East Side lawns, and some residents have organized protests against the project. Still others who live in the area see the project as an overdue improvement for the neighborhood and the best solution.
Sydney Brown, board president of the Restore Our Community Coalition, which has long pushed for the construction of a so-called highway cap, said she was confident it would improve the neighborhood’s walkability, bring additional small businesses to the area and increase the value of properties, which would help families build generational wealth.
During a visit to Buffalo last year, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the project would help “reconnect this community to places people count on every day” and “reduce highway pollution so fewer children in this area would have the health effects of breathing this air.
Still, some have questioned the effectiveness of the roughly $4 billion federal initiative, noting that many of the grants fund projects that get highways up and running. In March, the Department of Transportation announced $3.3 billion in grants for 132 construction and planning projects across the country. Many would include adding highway boundaries, pedestrian bridges and underpasses.
“Most of these projects are missing the root cause of disinvestment, pollution and dangerous driving – the freeway,” said Ben Crowther, policy director at America Walks, a transportation advocacy group. “They are certainly better than the current infrastructure, but it is still an uphill battle.”
Nearly 26 percent of funds for construction projects awarded this year will support the removal or reduction of dividing infrastructure, according to Department of Transportation data. Department officials said they awarded all applicants who submitted these types of projects and who had buy-in from the relevant state transportation department, which typically owns the infrastructure.
While Crowther said federal officials could do more to encourage requests involving road removal, he added that state officials’ “lack of vision” was limiting.
Yonah Freemark, a researcher at the Urban Institute, said the initiative was a “mixture.” He said a $180 million grant to help New York State demolish a 1.4-mile overpass in Syracuse would substantially benefit the community. But he found some projects to be more problematic because they aimed to mitigate the impacts of freeways undergoing expansions, including a federal grant to help Austin build a cap over Interstate 35, which the Texas Department of Transportation is expanding. spending billions.
Federal transportation officials said “there is no one-size-fits-all solution,” though they expected awardees to respond to community input. “Project sponsors are required to meaningfully engage with local organizations and residents,” Department of Transportation spokesman Sean Manning said in a statement.
Candace Moppins, who grew up near the Kensington Expressway and is a founding member of the East Side Parkways Coalition, a group that opposes the state project, said the effort would do little to repair the damage done to the area.
“I don’t think this reconnects the community,” Moppins said during a recent walk through the neighborhood. “This was once a thriving community. Now we have empty lots and rubble.”
State officials said the project would help restore green spaces that were “improperly taken away” during the highway’s construction, which included the demolition of the Humboldt Parkway, a wide tree-lined boulevard, and more than 600 homes. But the East Side Parkways Coalition argues the project would fail to fully restore the road, which was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.
Moppins said he also worries that air quality could worsen near the proposed tunnel entrances, where some homes and schools are located. The area within a half-mile of the freeway is in the 98th percentile for asthma rates and the 82nd percentile for low life expectancy when compared nationwide, according to data compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency.
According to the state’s environmental assessment, particulate matter concentrations could increase by up to 6% near the tunnel exits compared to a scenario in which the tunnel was not built, although concentrations would remain below federal air quality standards. and decreased along the length of the tunnel. . State officials said the estimate was based on “conservative” models.
Although state officials said they were considering future improvements along the expressway, Marie Therese Dominguez, commissioner of the New York Department of Transportation, said its removal was not feasible because it supported about 75,000 daily vehicle trips.
“What do you do about traffic?” Mrs. Dominguez said. “This is a very, very significant road.”
Some residents shared similar concerns. Alonzo Thompson, 74, a retired county election official whose home faces the highway, said he worried its removal could obstruct traffic on other roads. He said the plan to cover the highway would still give his neighbors and grandchildren a space to spend time outdoors.
“I’d rather compromise and turn it into a tunnel,” he said.
