Every morning around 6:30, David Richardson usually wakes up to the increasing noise of traffic. Steps from his front lawn, thousands of cars rumble by each day as they travel on the Kensington Expressway, a sprawling six-lane highway that runs through his neighborhood on Buffalo’s East Side.
The freeway, built in the 1950s and 1960s to move cars faster between downtown Buffalo and its suburbs, has long depressed property values and stifled economic development in this low-income, predominantly black community. . It has also represented a physical barrier, making it difficult for residents to reach supermarkets and parks.
New York state is now trying to revitalize the neighborhood with the support of a new Biden administration program aimed at uniting primarily disadvantaged communities that have long been divided by transportation projects. The state plans to reconnect the neighborhood by essentially turning a portion of the road into a tunnel with green space on top that would link both sides. State officials say the $1 billion project, backed by a $55.6 million federal grant, will improve pedestrian access and spur economic growth.
The effort has sparked intense backlash among some residents, who believe it will do little to address air pollution or increase access to economic opportunities. Among them is Richardson, 69, a retired electrician who moved to the neighborhood nearly a decade ago. He said he did not believe covering a section of the road would do much to improve the area’s air quality and that he would prefer to see the road completely destroyed.
The Biden administration has promised to reverse longstanding racial disparities through the new program. But in some cities, projects aimed at restoring neighborhoods have sparked divisive debates over how to best rectify damage caused by roads. In Buffalo, the state project, which would essentially create a tunnel to enclose a three-quarter-mile stretch of highway, has raised concerns that pollution could worsen near the tunnel ends.
There are “NO TOXIC TUNNEL” signs on front lawns on the East Side, and some residents have organized protests against the project. However, others who live in the area see the project as a necessary improvement to the neighborhood and the best solution.
Sydney Brown, board president of the Restore Our Community Coalition, which has long pushed for the so-called highway cap to be built, said she was confident it would improve the neighborhood’s walkability, attract more small businesses to the area and increase property values, which would help families generate generational wealth.
During a visit to Buffalo last year, Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, said the project would help “reconnect this community with places people count on every day” and “reduce road pollution, so “so that fewer children in this area have the opportunity to travel.” effects on health when breathing that air.”
Still, some have questioned the effectiveness of the roughly $4 billion federal initiative, pointing out that many of the grants fund projects that leave roads standing. 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 limits to highways, pedestrian bridges and underpasses.
“Most of these projects keep intact the root cause of disinvestment, pollution and dangerous driving: the road,” said Ben Crowther, policy director for America Walks, a transportation advocacy group. “They’re certainly better than the infrastructure as it currently exists, but it’s still really an uphill battle.”
Nearly 26 percent of construction project funds awarded this year will support the elimination or reduction of dividing infrastructure, according to Department of Transportation data. Department officials said they rewarded all applicants who submitted such projects and had them accepted by the relevant state transportation department, which typically owns the infrastructure.
Although 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 had been “mixed.” He said a $180 million grant to help New York state demolish a 1.4-mile viaduct in Syracuse would substantially benefit the community. But he thought some projects were more problematic because they were aimed at mitigating the impacts of highways undergoing widening, including a federal grant to help Austin build a boundary over Interstate 35, which the Texas Department of Transportation is spending on expanding. thousands of millions.
Federal transportation officials said there was no one-size-fits-all solution, although they hoped award recipients would respond to community feedback. “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 it reconnects the community at all,” Moppins said during a recent walk through the neighborhood. “This was once a thriving community. Now we have vacant land and rubble.”
State officials have said the project would help restore green space that was “unfairly taken away” during highway construction, which included the demolition of Humboldt Parkway, a wide tree-lined boulevard and more than 600 homes. But the East Side Parkways Coalition maintains that the project would fail to fully restore the parkway, which was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.
Moppins said he was also concerned that air quality could worsen near the proposed entrances to the tunnel, where some homes and schools are located. The area within a half-mile of the highway is in the 98th percentile for asthma rates and the 82nd percentile for low life expectancy compared to the country, 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 percent near the tunnel exits compared to a scenario in which the tunnel was not built, although concentrations would remain below federal quality standards. of the air and would decrease along the tunnel. . State officials said the estimate was based on a “conservative” model.
Although state officials said they were considering future improvements along the freeway, Marie Therese Dominguez, commissioner of the New York Department of Transportation, said removing it was not feasible because it supported about 75,000 vehicle trips daily.
“What are you doing about the traffic?” said Mrs. Dominguez. “This is a very, very important avenue.”
Some residents shared similar concerns. Alonzo Thompson, 74, a retired county elections official whose home faces the highway, said he worried that removing it would clog traffic on other roads. He said the plan to cover the road would still give his neighbors and grandchildren a space to spend time outdoors.
“I’d rather make concessions and turn it into a tunnel,” he said.