Main about to become less of a drag

[steven]

It has been three years since the city began its largest and one of its most expensive highway reconstruction jobs on Main Street in University Heights, a stretch of road in North Buffalo that sees 26,000 cars daily.


When the Heights part of it is finished this summer, few disagree it will be time and money well spent. But for the residents who have seen business drop and quality of life decline, the end can't come soon enough.
"It has been significant, highly significant," said Jon Welch, owner of Talking Leaves bookstore. "It's been rough on most of us. I don't think there isn't anyone who hasn't been impacted."

When the $15 million project is done, there will be repaved roads, new medians, coordinated traffic signals, better lighting, benches, bike racks, and cobblestone sidewalk highlights; all the finishing touches are scheduled to be done by Labor Day.
At times, though, Main Street has resembled a war zone, tractors and trucks rolling like tanks past trenches where street and sidewalk used to be. With half the thoroughfare closed, cars navigate at a crawl between paths of orange cones, the traffic sometimes maddening.

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial...29/1032922.asp

[speaker]

Steve, even though it makes for hardship, now, it's well worth it. That part of Main can be another Elmwood, and with Hertel so lively, now, a real cityscape. It always had great potential, with U Plaza at one end, UB on the eastern edge.
There's a great movie house which complements the North Park theater, lots of book stores and small eateries. Kenmore Ave should be taking off soon.
I like the whole area. I can see Buffalo as a great little city, and very interesting.
Crime needs to be cut, to bring back the burbanites especially. Should have lots of police presence for awhile. Bailey needs this particularly. Used to be a very vibrant community but people too scared to go there.

[NoCtUrNaL]

The Empire State Building took a little over a year to build...those dorks took three years to pave a miles worth of road.

[citymouse]

So what is this now? There are going to be less people in drag on Main Street?

[crlachepinochet]

That strike was horrible! When they went on strike, they had already torn up most of Main St... 13 weeks = more than 3 months of driving on a torn-up street. I'm not sure if this was because of the new timetable after the strike, but they left it in horrible condition over the winter, too!

In the end, though, we'll end up with a purdy new streetscape. There was some talk before the end of the semester about the next UB housing to be built. Seems like they are leaning towards apartments on South Campus in the next 5-10 years. If I was in charge, they would be right on Main St, but I'm sure they'll end up in the middle of a parking lot...

And, in the "calm before the storm" department... "

And when the Heights is done, the city will bid the second half of the reconstruction - a two-mile stretch from Hertel Avenue to Sisters Hospital that planners hope to start on in November

[BuffaloEMT14216]

I think it's a great revilitization for the area. However, the University Heights neighborhood needs to be reborn as a residential neighborhood, just not frat houses. My finacee grew up on Heath Street. The stories her father can tell of the street are interesting. It was a family oriented area,almost small town USA. He, like so many others, were shuttered out of the neighborhood in the early 1980's by punk college students more interested in destroying the neighborhood.
Secondly, I hope the Main Street association will take better care of the landscaping than the Hertel Avenue association.
I live just off Hertel Avenue, and all the landscaping the city put in, half of it is overgrown with weeds, some of the tree planters do have flowers but it seems that it is up to the individual.
There are still too many vacancies at my end between Commonwealth and Delaware Avenue. The building at the corner of Hertel and Fairchild Pl was supposed to house a steak house but that floundered, now are do nothing Councilman has setup shop for his election campaign. LoCurto never answers emails, doesn't seem to bother with the common man, unlike Joe Golombek.
Golombek is a good guy.

[Edisonic]

The concrete center planters, surrounded by ROCKS, are hideous. It's the new Berlin Wall, if you ask me. And you didn't.

[biker]

I sometimes shop at O'Connel Lucas and Chelf, across from St. Joseph's.

It almost seemed as if the State (or whoever was doing the work) was trying to drive the businesses out of business. They have taken forever for this project. And then over the winter, they just left their unused construction equipment on the blocked off portion of the street. Why didn't they store it someplace else and open the street up while they weren't working.

And what dreamy-eyed planner came up with the strategic thought to "slow down" traffic on Main Street. Just what we need less traffic capacity.

In truth, most of Main Street is deserted except for the rush hour (ok, rush half hour) twice a day.

I didn't know they were going to "do" Main st. from Hertel to Sisters. That road is fine. They should save the dough.

Finally, what a dumb idea these center of the street dividers are. Do they want to kill drunken college students driving at 1:00 AM? (Sorry, I heard college kids still drink. Maybe I heard wrong.)

[snap]

The Empire State Building took a little over a year to build...those dorks took three years to pave a miles worth of road.

It's called "State Funded Infrastructure" and it costs a lot in taxpayers' money that's why it takes time.

[Edisonic]

College students still drink, even over the summer. I am about to brave the gauntlet of them, as I walk to the corner of Bird & Elmwood for canned cat food. (the little felines ran out yesterday, and I forgot to grab it at Tops) ... I'll be waiting in line behind 10 drunkos buying big cans of sleazy beer, 5 minutes from now. I, of course, am above that (heh)

[biker]

OK, so that part's still true: the collegiate set still imbibes.

So why are we putting concrete car flippers on the main drag to their campus?

[Edisonic]

To stop head-on collisions? I dunno ... I only know that they could have made a center strip more level with the pavement, and it would have been more attractive. They never think of WATER for the plants, so it's all doomed to be either pathetic or dead.

btw, color me wrong - Six blocks to the 2-4 Store & back, but I passed only 1 human - and he was apparently sober and walking his dog. So much for summertime Buff State boozefests. I forget that most students are now locals, trying to get a ticket out of here.