WASHINGTON – A bus rapid transit line will be built along Bailey Avenue in Buffalo from Main Street in the north to South Park Avenue in the south thanks to a $102.7 million federal grant to be announced Monday.
The 7.5-mile route will feature dedicated bus lanes, an estimated 13 stations with waiting areas, improved signaling and safety features for bicyclists and pedestrians. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, both New York Democrats, will announce the plan Monday, but The Buffalo News obtained an advance copy of the announcement on Sunday.
“Bailey Avenue is the spine of the East Side and one of Buffalo’s busiest corridors, but ask anyone who has been stuck behind an NFTA bus while trying to get to work, it can also be one of its most frustrating for traffic and dangerous, with dozens of collisions every year,” Schumer said. “This $100 million to create the new Bailey Avenue bus rapid transit line is how we can turn congestion and collisions into a smoother commute for Buffalonians.”
Gillibrand said Buffalo residents can expect big changes thanks to the project.
“Soon, it will help thousands of East Buffalo residents get where they need to go quickly, cheaply and safely, and make Buffalo more equitable and more livable,” she said.
Bailey Avenue has long been regarded as one of the city’s main, and most vexing, north-south corridors. The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority says that about 2,600 commuters use the Bailey Avenue Metro Bus every weekday.
However, buses currently compete for road space on a broad urban thoroughfare often jammed with other vehicle traffic. And as a result, an NFTA study found that there have been 2,500 collisions along Bailey in the past five years.
The bus rapid transit project and related improvements should make the route safer for all sorts of commuters, Schumer said.
“From the students on UB’s South Campus to the veterans who use this bus route…
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