Commuters who bounce down the poor surface of Niagara Street in downtown Buffalo can look forward to smoother pavement, shading trees, faster-moving buses, and more clearly marked lanes under a plan explained to a public meeting Tuesday night.
Right now, Niagara street is tired, with bad pavement, worn lane markings and little provision for pedestrians. But that's all supposed to change with a multi-million dollar collaboration between the City of Buffalo and the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority.
The section of Niagara Street between Elmwood Avenue and Virginia Street will be done next year for certain, although it isn't clear if the section between Virginia and Porter will be reconstructed next year.
The NFTA plans new high-tech shelters, with signs saying when the next bus will arrive and with electronic gadgetry to change signals to let buses get green lights.
Bergmann Associates Engineer Kelly Thompson said it isn't an easy project.
"Niagara Street has evolved over the years and certainly volumes of traffic are greater. It is very difficult with the existing roadway limits and the amount of right of way that's available to accommodate all of the turns. That's why the traffic analysis has to examine each of the uses and do the best they can within the roadway configuration and accommodate, again, pedestrians and bikes as well," said Thompson.
Thompson noted here is only one short section where the road will actually be widened. The road will get new lane markers and provisions to speed heavily-used Metro Buses on one of the busiest routes.
There will also be a future facility to allow transfers between buses, but a site for that transfer station has not been selected.
