BUFFALO, N.Y. — We decided to seek out more details about the funding and the process to actually cover over or deck a portion of the Kensington Expressway. The project was proposed by Governor Kathy Hochul on Saturday.
We'll start with the process of decking. That is actually creating a tunnel for traffic access on the Kensington from roughly Best Street to East Ferry to allow for a deck over it. That will in turn have parks and perhaps some streets on it to reconnect and restore the Humboldt Park area. The neighborhood was ripped apart by the late 1950s construction of the highway.
Hochul and others on stage Saturday said it's long overdue So she launched an Environmental Impact Study to begin the process. As we've shown you, covering over highways has been done elsewhere in cities like Seattle or the newly planned Dallas Zoo park extension or even the Boston Big Dig covering I-93.
However, UB Engineering Assistant Professor Anthony Tessari, who assisted on the Big Dig points out, "There are a whole host of engineering challenges that go into something that you could describe as just putting a deck over something - it's not that simple."
There will need to be proper ventilation for auto exhaust and emergency access factors. Overall Tessari said, "There's going to be challenges in digging down - we don't understand sort of the influence of the ground conditions until we get in there and do some testing."
And then to pay for it all. No price tag was given by the Governor for her current Kensington proposal, but a 2014 study projected a cost of at least $500 million dollars back then.
Hochul says some of this and other actual highway "removal" projects in Rochester and Syracuse would be funded by the state which in turn gets its money from the federal government.
That means studies, public comment, and approval from the Federal Highway Administration. And while he expects a 36 month fast track for approval - Congressman Higgins says there's no check in the mail just yet from Washington.
2 On Your Side asked "Is there any possibility that another state - California or someplace else could say we need the money because we've got more issues over here. Is that possible with allocations?"
Higgins replied "Absolutely and this is a competitive process. And that's why it's important that the Governor took the initiative that she did to get this process as it relates to the Kensington Expressway moving."