There is a crusade underway, to right a major wrong dome to Main Street. Back in 2012, just as Complete Streets was coming into play, The City tore up Main Street between the University District and Humboldt Parkway. When the streets were finished, we were left with outdated concrete planter medians and no bike lanes.
There is a crusade underway, to right a major wrong dome to Main Street. Back in 2012, just as Complete Streets was coming into play, The City tore up Main Street between the University District and Humboldt Parkway. When the streets were finished, we were left with outdated concrete planter medians and no bike lanes. This was a huge mistake, especially knowing that Complete Streets would be passed shortly thereafter. Instead of connecting two major urban college campuses (UB South and Canisius) with bike lanes, we ended up with a prehistoric transportation model. What’s even more amazing is that the stretch of road is a NYS Bicycle Route – 517 (see here).
“As identified in the recently updated Bicycle Master Plan, Main Street is an essential connection to downtown Buffalo from UB South Campus and north Buffalo.”
Ever since the installation of the center planted median (having fun with this drought?), cars have hit it left and right. It is continually being bombarded by cars, and the trees and plantings are having problems of their own. Plus, there is virtually nowhere for cyclists to ride. If done correctly and responsibly the first time, we would have an awesome bike connection route. Instead we are left with something that looks like it should be on Niagara Falls Boulevard or Sheridan Drive.
Now GObike Buffalo is rallying the community to support an initiative that would see the removal of the hack medians and installation of bike lanes. This is a big quality of life issue for our community.
“Since they were installed trees have had to be readily replaced; no pedestrian refuge area was provided; and vehicles crash into them frequently. These medians have become a significant maintenance challenge and safety issue throughout the corridor.”
GObike Buffalo is asking that the median is completely removed and a protected bike lane is added in its stead. The pro-cycling organization is anticipating that the community backs this effort, by sending emails to the political decision makers. Please take a couple of minutes to ask City officials to fix this mistake. If you want to copy and paste a message, click here.
Support the Removal of the Main Street Medians
Originally Published on August 5, 2016 by BuffaloRising.com