BUFFALO, N.Y. — If you've driven along the 190 past the old LaSalle Park, you might have seen the equipment and fencing and wondered how construction is going.
2 On Your Side got a look Wednesday afternoon at the progress at the new Ralph Wilson Park along the waterfront. Since July, the focus has been working on the shoreline.
Crews are removing the cement seawall, carving out a rocky, water inlet and creating a natural slope that will help with flooding, and encourage wildlife to create habitats.
"The park had deteriorated, it was taking on flooding, and it makes a lot of sense," Katie Campos, the Ralph Wilson Park Conservancy executive director, told 2 On Your Side.
"Winds are coming from the west and just battering the park. There's a land funnel with Canada, and the park was the bull's-eye, so wind, waves, climate change, and rising sea levels were all impacting the park, and it was deteriorating, so we needed to do something with that."
Crews have also installed pedestrian bridge foundation. The bridge will be shipped on a barge this summer from Italy.
The park will open up to the public, in stages, starting in late 2025.