With some of Niagara County’s overbuilt highways eyed for removal or being downgraded, North Tonawanda wants to redevelop its major road artery.
Twin Cities Memorial Highway, on State Route 425 as one of four connections between the Tonawandas, could look very different in a few years as the city wants to improve the thoroughfare.
“It’s something the city has wanted to address prior to me being born,” said Mayor Austin Tylec, calling it unsafe, ugly, and awkward to use.
The 1.2-mile four-lane stretch of road runs from the Wheatfield Street/Erie Avenue intersection and crosses Tonawanda Creek into Tonawanda. The adjacent 1.1 mile, two-lane, one-way Division Street will be part of the redesign as well.
It is one of several county projects seeking to remove or redesign highways built decades ago. The Niagara Scenic Parkway is being removed in phases, with work starting in 2014. The current phase focuses on the stretch between Findlay Drive and Center Street in Lewiston. Removing the LaSalle Expressway has also been proposed, with its replacement being an at-grade street.
Twin Cities Highway was built in the 1960s with plans to continue through the city and Wheatfield and connect with the LaSalle Expressway. Plans to connect the belt expressway to Erie County highways also never came to fruition.
North Tonawanda received a $500,000 federal grant in June 2021 with the help of then-Congressman Brian Higgins to work on a study for downgrading the highway. C&S Engineers and Chiuten Trowbridge Landscape Architects have been working with the city/
The infrastructure there is aging with pavement nearing the end of its usefulness and traffic signals in need of an upgrade.
Common complaints about the highway involve confusion entering and exiting Division Street, the traffic lights are not timed right, drivers are not following the signs, and it is too dangerous. This past September, Terry Crick of Jamestown died from injuries following an e-bike accident with a motorist at a highway intersection.
The most recent public meetings on redesign took place last month with 12 preliminary design concepts shown to residents for feedback. Some of the reported options considered include:
• Keep the existing layout and make improvements
• A depressed highway
• A tunnel
• A limited-access highway
• An elevated highway
• A landscaped parkway
• Reestablishing a street grid for the neighborhood it runs through
• A boulevard
The next public meeting will not take place until September when the final concept plans are expected to be complete. Cost estimates are around $30 million, which would require further federal grants to fund.
“We feel good that we will get it,” Tylec said.
Construction would not start for at least two to three years. Tylec added, noting the state would be involved in the process.