Changes coming to Niagara Falls Boulevard

Written on August 29, 2019

Photo courtesy of spectrumlocalnews.com

Since 2013 there have been six pedestrians have been killed on the busy street of Niagara Falls Boulevard (Blvd) between the interstate 290 and the Niagara County line. On August 19, 2019, according to channel 2 WGRZ “The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) announced on August 19, 2019 that a speed limit reduction will take effect on part of Niagara Falls Boulevard on Tuesday and Wednesday.” The speed limit will be lowered from 45 to 40 miles per hour (MPH). The changes will run from the Interstate 290 and Niagara County in the towns of Amherst and Tonawanda.

There have plenty of cases of serious crashes along the Blvd that have caused serious injuries, even deaths in not only drivers, but motorcyclist, and pedestrians are becoming victims. For example, in 2001 three students were killed on the Blvd due to the fact that there was no side walk, according to Sweet Home Superintendent Anthony Day. A big problem that has led to a lot of fatalities has been lack of street lights on the sidewalks for pedestrians. According to Marian Hetherly of 88.7 WBFO “Amherst is also installing new LED street lights along the boulevard between the I-290 and Creekside Drive. It is the first time that section of road has been lit.” Supervisor of the Town of Amherst Brian Kulpa, believes that the lighting will allow more communication on the roads. What he means is that drivers are able to see people who are looking to cross the street you can see their posture if they are looking to cross or not or if they’re looking for a bus and going to cross and catch the bus.

Kulpa plans to push to lower the speed limit down to 35 MPH. “The ultimate decision really lies in the hand of the state,” Kulpa adds, “I would’ve preferred to see the speed come down to 35 MPH… I think we’ll keep pushing it to lowered to 35.” He adds that the Town of Tonawanda will be adding lights to existing power poles. With the amount of people walking in the middle of the street and playing “frogger” with their lives Kulpa would like to add more lights and adjust the timing for people trying to get to buses. He says that he would like to put more technology onto Niagara Falls Blvd. “What we really need to do on Niagara Falls Blvd as a region, we need to start turning towards some of these smart technologies and having a smart street.” He wants signals to talk to the buses and vice versa. “Right now we are using archaic 1950’s technology, why?” He thinks that the lighting will help circumvents the behavior of people j-walking and will make it easier to deal with. He would also like to add street trees to the Blvd. “If you look at the Blvd there’s no trees planted on both sides. Street furniture those things become a deterrent… you’re not going to cross with a bunch of tree branches in the way.” He adds that you don’t see people on main street crossing in the middle of the street because of how many trees there are on the side of the street.

The lighting project will be done by the end of this year, according to Kulpa. “The state is going to spend two million dollars doing some quick fixes over the next year and a half.” He plans on spending the next four or five months with consultants putting together a long-term vision. South of the 290 he wants to add sidewalks to make the streets complete for people and cyclists.

The overall goal for the Blvd is “road diet” Kulpa adds, “I’d like to see it narrowed, parts of the Blvd are 88 feet across.” He adds that air craft carriers are also 88 feet across. “You can have a parked F18 and take another F18 or F16. If you can have a jet taking off next to a parked jet.” He wants to narrow lanes, so drivers aren’t so comfortable driving at such a high speed.