Today, Congresswoman Kathy Hochul met with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to discuss improvements to the Lewiston Plaza of the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, as well as terror threats to Western New York.
"As I learned during my visit with the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission in September, critical improvements to the Lewiston Plaza are necessary to end the traffic bottlenecks leading into the U.S."
The Lewiston Plaza is unable to efficiently process current traffic across the bridge, resulting in extreme delays that are hurting the Western New York economy. Wait times have been as long as 115 minutes, and northern border crossing inefficiencies are costing the U.S. trucking industry $9 billion annually. Canada has already invested $62 million to improve the Queenston Plaza and the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission is willing to invest $50 million to make the improvements to the Lewiston Plaza.
Hochul added, "This is why I asked Secretary Napolitano to waive some of the impeding requirements and expedite approval of this project. We must expand the total number of primary processing lanes, thus enhancing our homeland security and facilitating much needed commerce between our two countries."
Congresswoman Hochul also spoke to Secretary Napolitano about the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), which provides "high-threat, high-density urban areas" with funding to prevent and protect themselves against acts of terrorism. In May, both Buffalo and Rochester were dropped from the UASI Program.
"The safety and security of Western New Yorkers is my top priority, and the size and close proximity of Buffalo and Rochester to the border make these cities high targets to terrorists. This is why I spoke directly to Secretary Napolitano about adding our cities back to the Urban Area Security Initiative's list of cities eligible for Homeland Security funding," Hochul concluded.