The new state budget includes several projects designed to transform Buffalo's transportation infrastructure. Gov. Andrew Cuomo provided highlights Wednesday before a packed house at the Buffalo Museum of Science.
Governor Cuomo says more than $112 million in funding is on the way for several big projects in Buffalo including converting the Scajaquada Expressway.
"It will be a low-speed urban boulevard with a wide median. It'll have safer crossing points for pedestrians and cyclists," Cuomo said.
The governor said that the state is also going to "fix the mistake" it made 50 years ago by building the Kensington Expressway down the middle of Humboldt Parkway, which divided Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes current district.
"While we do have a lot of work left to do - we do have $6 million for the environmental impact study that will tell us exactly how, and how much it will cost, to restore our community. I can tell you, that whatever that dollar amount is, it will be small in comparison to what it will restore when this community is restored," Peoples-Stokes said.
The budget, Cuomo says, also provides $54 million to enhance the NFTA's Metro Bus and Metro Rail Service. And $22 million for the next phase of the Cars Sharing Main Street project in downtown Buffalo.