Reviving Niagara: Sign
June 13th, 2007 by Progressive Wednesday
Sign:
This one might be a little confusing for those of you reading in Texas or Taiwan, but stay with us here because we know that, as progressives, you believe in being a good steward to the environment.
The Robert Moses Parkway is a small roadway in Western New York. A portion of it — which stretches from Lewiston to Niagara Falls — has been changed from a four-lane highway into a two-lane 40-miles-per-hour road. This section is barely used. It’s rundown. To call it “maintained” would be insulting to the word “maintained.” It’s ugly. It’s all-but useless since there are plenty of other ways to get from Niagara Falls to Lewiston and back.
One of the main reasons folks come the American side of Niagara Falls is because of the enormous state parks. Ecotourism best describes the hundreds of thousands of travelers to this area. So an area organization, Niagara Heritage Partnership, has started a petition to remove 6.5 miles of the Robert Moses Parkway and turn it into a bike path and a hiking trail with socially responsible development. (To learn more about the Robert Moses and the Niagara Heritage Partnership, click this sentence.) Basically, they’d like to return the area to its more natural state, and attract even more folks interested in the environmental beauty of the Niagara region. In addition, removing the parkway would reroute folks through areas of the city that could use some rerouted folks. There’s an added conservation benefit: since the roads need to be salted come the frigid Western New York winters, this would reduce runoff into the Niagara Gorge.
So, all you’ve got to do, is electronically sign the petition that they’ve set up online (just click this sentence). Right now, they’ve got 69 organizations supporting their proposal, including the Sierra Club, Buffalo Audubon Society, Niagara Frontier Wildlife Habitat Council, and 22 different block clubs of the city of Niagara Falls. They have over 2,000 signatures from concerned and conscientious citizens. Now all they need is you.
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plynch Says
I’m torn on this one. I fully support the naturalization of the gorge area. Niagara Partnership is to be commended for their persistence. However- an issue of concern is the rerouting of traffic through residential neighborhoods - and the resultant concentration of traffic and fuel exhaust in those neighborhoods. That is an unintended consequence of an otherwise noble cause. How can we mitigate this negative impact?
Jun 13th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
Progressive Wednesday Says
I actually believe that this would have a more positive impact than negative. Rerouting traffic through the city instead of around it would be better for small businesses, and any environmental impact would be more than cancelled out by the new vegetation. There will be a very small impact on traffic elsewhere, as there are even several other routes than commuters can take: Hyde Park, Highland, I-190, Lewiston Road, etc.
Jun 13th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
michelle Says
Seventy case studies from 11 countries and the opinions of over 200 transport professionals world-wide disprove the statements that displaced traffic will simply divert to neighboring streets, clogging them, leading to worse traffic problems.
In summary, the studies found that “well-designed and well-implemented schemes to reallocate road space improves conditions for pedestrians and cyclists without increasing congestion or other related problems.
The studies listed benefits: air-quality improvements, reduced neighborhood severance, increased business investment, more attractive living and working conditions, and improved retail vitality.
The potential opportunities achieved are traffic reduction, urban regeneration, more efficient use of economic and scenic resources and other national policy objectives.
Jun 13th, 2007 at 8:54 pm