A new project along Lake Erie will redevelop former industrial properties and extend the Shoreline Trail into Lackawanna, creating community connections to the waterfront and bridging gaps to other regional trails and greenways.
By Kevin Jolly
May 31, 2018
Originally published by Spectrum News
LACKWANNA, N.Y. — A lakeside stretch of Lackawanna long known for industry is going to become the Shoreline Trail; 140 acres of land off of Route 5, dormant for 30 years, about to be reborn.
“Some of it we’re keeping as a buffer zone for now with the green space, but the area behind that is going to be turned into a modern industrial park, and not the heavy industry of the past, but e-commerce, for logistics, for advanced manufacturing, the type of industry that we want to bring to this community,” said County Executive Mark Poloncarz, D-Erie County.
The parcel of land at the historic Bethlehem Steel site was purchased by Erie County last year. A fence that used to line the pathway was taken down and the old rails must be removed from the brownfield.
Once complete, the new trail would fill the gap in a trail that stretches from Lake Ontario all the way to the Pennsylvania line.
“This is really exciting we have the Niagara River Greenway in place that connects Lake Ontario down to Lake Erie, and an opportunity to continue to ride south once you hit the city ship canal down to Woodlawn Beach. This connections significant to really kind of build those connections to some of our destinations in Western New York,” said Justin Booth, GoBike Buffalo, Executive Director.
The work should be done by the end of the year. The total cost of the project is projected at $31 million, with much of the funding coming from the Buffalo Billion II.