Renewed call to raze the Skyway

[steven]

Improved access to Buffalo's waterfront would be achieved by tearing down the Skyway.

So says Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, in renewing a call replace the 50-year old bridge with a number of lift bridges linking the waterfront to the downtown area.

"We cannot improve the Outer Harbor without improving access, and we cannot improve access without dealing with the single-largest impediment to access, and that is the Buffalo Skyway bridge," said Higgins during a news briefing.

The lawmaker has introduced a plan to reform transportation infrastructure along Furhmann Boulevard, just beyond the Skyway. That plan, which would be done with up to $14 million in federal funding, includes refurbishing Fuhrmann into a grand, two-way, urban parkway, with high-end "Central Park-style" lighting and green space similar to that of the Niagara Parkway on the Canadian side of the Niagara River.

"In order to see legitimate Outer Harbor access improvements, people have to be able to get there, and when they get there, it can't be by a 55 mile-per-hour

highway," said Higgins. "The fact is that Fuhrmann Boulevard must be comprehensively reformed. We can do it in a relatively short time frame, and we ought not to pass this opportunity up."

Higgins cited costs associated with maintaining the Skyway -- including a once-a-decade painting at a cost to state taxpayers of $15 million, periodic wintertime closures and safety concerns as reasons for replacing the structure.

http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/s...ml?jst=b_ln_hl

Ummmmmmmm
DUH

[crlachepinochet]

They'll probably decide to tear it down the week after the $15 million is spent on the decennial paint job.

[Trolls_r_us]

15 million to paint a bridge?

[citymouse]

They use special paint. The kind the pentagon buys.
Tear It Down!!!

[lcm]

I support the single parkway (how much land do we have that we are going to put a big expressway with parallel running access roads...

I support integrating the parkway into the first ward, inner and outer harbor communities which an expressway doesnt do

I support the demolition of the skyway and its replacement with a tunnel or a series of bridges...

Heck if you want a tunnel so much....move the toll booth from the Niagara Expressway to pay for the tunnel