Schumer: With East Buffalo Still Isolated From Downtown, Schumer Launches Major Push for $25+ Million to Reconnect Buffalo Neighborhoods, Break Down Segregating Barriers Increase Walkability, Making Queen City More Accessible for All

Statement

Standing at the Summer-Best NFTA Station on Buffalo's beleaguered "middle" Main Street, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer today launched a major new push for $25 million in federal funding to fix the roadway between Goodell St. and the Kensington Expressway.

This project, Schumer says, builds on the successful "Cars on Main" project as it enters its homestretch, and would finally repair the pot hole-ridden stretch of Main Street, which separates East Buffalo from downtown. Schumer wrote to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg advocating for the city's recent Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant application, which will transform nearly 2.5 miles of Main Street roadway, increase safety, add bike lanes, boost walkability, and breathe new economic energy to reconnect communities.

"Anyone who regularly travels along this bumpy and pot hole-ridden section of Buffalo's Main Street knows how treacherous it can be on your car, your bicycle, your wheelchair, or even your feet. Our infrastructure should connect, not divide the city. That's why I am here with Mayor Byron Brown to say it is time we pave over this problem and finally allow Main Street to fulfill its purpose again -- to serve as a connection for all neighborhoods, particularly East Buffalo, to access downtown in a safe, walkable, sustainable way," said Senator Schumer. "We must strike while the iron is hot. The historic funding increases I was able to secure in the Bipartisan Infrastructure & Jobs Law, give us a unique opportunity to put Buffalo in the fast lane for a transportation transformation. That is why I wrote to Secretary Buttigieg directly to tell him Buffalo's roads need the investment, and with the Cars Sharing Main project in the homestretch, it is time to put a down payment on helping the Queen City become more equitable and accessible for all."

"Main Street in Buffalo looks very different from how it looked in 1998 and that is no coincidence," said Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. "For twenty years, Senator Schumer has been a champion of Main Street's revitalization and today is no exception. This funding will allow us to dramatically improve middle Main Street and bring it into the 21st century for pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers alike."

Schumer explained that the RAISE Grants, formerly known as BUILD or TIGER, is a highly competitive national grant program through the U.S. Department of Transportation which fund transportation projects of national and regional significance. Schumer has a long history of securing funding for the revitalization of Buffalo's Main Street. The senator played an integral role in securing over $33 million for the Cars Sharing Main project, $15M in 2009 and $18M in 2015, from the USDOT TIGER grant program.

This latest venture called Buffalo's Transforming Main Street: Building Equity and Assuring Mobility through Sustainability ("Main Street BEAMS") project would revitalize a 2.5-mile corridor of Main Street in the City of Buffalo adjacent to the Masten Park neighborhood to connect East Buffalo to the downtown through a more walkable and modern street.

Schumer said that much of this stretch between Goodell Street and the Kensington Expressway has fallen into extreme disrepair as the result of Buffalo's recent successes. Construction, utility work, and renovations along the corridor at places like the Buffalo-Niagara Medical Campus have contributed mightily to cracked pavement and potholes, which have made commuting this on this road, particularly in the winter months, dangerous for walkers, drivers, and bikers alike. Worse, this chronic disrepair of this section of Main Street has served as a barrier between East Buffalo and the rest of the city.

This project would completely transform the roadway to provide a smooth and safer commute for all who travel on it, create good paying jobs for the local community, and prime the area for new economic development. Specifically, it would:

Completely mill and repave the roadway, addressing the pothole problems and allow for a new, safer traffic design.
Add new crosswalks and curbs with Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant ramps and signal infrastructure.
Create raised accessible bike lanes with barriers to prevent accidents.
Improve the aesthetics of the roadway with benches, bike racks, signage, LED lighting, and greenspace.
Showcase local artists and artisans with commissioned works meant to highlight Buffalo's rich cultural heritages.
This project also build on the over $10 million Schumer delivered earlier this year through Congressionally Directed Spending Requests for the long desired Buffalo transportation projects including $900,000 for the Riverline, over $1.7M for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority to boost its electric bus fleet, and $3M for the NFTA Skybridge and Riverwalk.

Schumer also explained how the Bipartisan Infrastructure & Jobs Law contains critical plus-ups for the RAISE program, funded in the bill at $7.5 billion over five years, with $1.5 billion per year. In addition, he said the recent Fiscal Year 2022 spending bill included an additional $775 million, bringing the total amount for FY22 to $2.275 billion, increasing the opportunity for this highly competitive grant compared to previous years.

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