Issue Position: Skyway

Issue Position

Brian's efforts with regard to the Buffalo Skyway are not so much an attempt to tear something down as an attempt to build something up - an attempt to make the physical improvements necessary to pave the way for access and development at Buffalo's Outer Harbor.

The Skyway and Waterfront Development

Visitors to Buffalo's waterfront are often struck by the sharp contrast between the activity and vibrancy at the Erie Basin Marina, adjacent to Downtown Buffalo, and the utter desolation at the Outer Harbor. The Erie Basin Marina is a formerly industrial area which has become one of the fastest growing areas in the City of Buffalo and one of the few areas in the City in which property values, and the tax base, have appreciated consistently and aggressively. The infrastructure at Buffalo's Outer Harbor, including the Skyway, was designed to take advantage of the anticipated increase in Great Lakes shipping which was to have occurred with the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in the 1950's. In stead of bringing increased shipping, the St. Lawrence Seaway actually produced a decrease in shipping at Buffalo, and as a result Buffalo's Outer Harbor has been largely undeveloped and underdeveloped for the past 50 years.

Why has the vibrancy and excitement at the Erie Basin Marina not spread to the Outer Harbor? The development has not spread there because the infrastructure which is supposed to take travelers to the Outer Harbor, namely the Buffalo Skyway, actually takes them away from it. While it is only 105 yards across the Entrance Channel to Buffalo's Inner Harbor from the Erie Basin Marina to the Outer Harbor, the closest route by car - the Skyway - is some four miles. And when the Skyway drops passengers at the Outer Harbor, they are greeted with a confusing system of one-way industrial access roads designed more for a shipping industry which never came than for recreation and tourism.

Brian's goal is to have the new link or links which will replace the Skyway provide vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian access directly from Downtown Buffalo and the exciting development at Lower Main Street and the Erie Basin Marina with the Outer Harbor. Removing the Skyway will also free up substantial portions of the massive amount of land on which it sits for development.

Safety Concerns

The Skyway is a 1.4 mile long, 55 mile-per-hour bridge with no shoulders located 110 feet above Buffalo's Inner Harbor. This environment leaves stranded motorists in a very precarious situation, and Buffalo Police records reveal a very high incidence of accidents and fatalities. Additionally, because of it high elevation at a specific location where it takes some of the worst of Lake Erie's winter winds, the Skyway is closed so frequently that it is the only bridge in New York State with a mechanized closing system which lights up and tells commuters in distant suburbs when it is closed. Engineers have also indicated that the tight turning radii of several of the Skyway's access ramps, coupled with the grade at which they are inclined, are a cause for serious safety concerns - ramps like these could not be built today under current federal highway safety regulations.

Cost Considerations

Because of its dangerous elevation and the high winds to which it is subjected, transportation officials aggressively salt the structure in the winter months. Because of the potential for accelerated corrosion this salting brings, the Skyway is repainted every ten years, and is presently being repainted at a cost of $15 million. It is also anticipated that the Skyway will require substantial structural work in the coming years costing tens of millions of dollars. Given the tremendous expense of maintaining this structure, the expense of new infrastructure is at least comparable, and in the long term new infrastructure could save money.

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