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Another State Panel to Look At Rt. 198 Changes

NY plans to bring in a panel of experts on projects covering highway removal from around the country in order to come up with suggestions for a changeover of the Rt. 198 roadway in Buffalo to more of a boulevard parkway.

BUFFALO, NY - It's been more than three years since three-year-old Maksim Sugorovskiy was killed by a car that jumped the curb from Rt. 198 into Delaware Park. Within days, Governor Andrew Cuomo reduced the speed limit down to 30 miles per hour.

But, talk of more extensive changes to the roadway since then have been just that: "talk." Though new state DOT leadership is bringing new optimism for a future project some may be questioning if there will anything different this time.

In 2017, state officials and the DOT faced pressure from residents and groups who were just not satisfied with their $115 Million dollar plan to transform Route 198 from a four lane roadway into more of a parkland boulevard.

At a summer 2017 public information meeting on the Buffalo State campus, then DOT Commissioner Matt Driscoll in the Cuomo Administration told 2 on Your Side, "Elements that people continue to suggest that they must have . we are unable to meet those and we are also unable to gain support from federal highway on that."

But that apparent my-way or the highway stand fell along with the whole overall plan in January. Now State Assemblyman Sean Ryan says there's an effort to seek fresh views on a Rt. 198 changeover process with formation later this year of, "A blue ribbon panel of transportation experts from around the country to come in and listen to Buffalonians and also to give their experiences of what's happening with different projects of these types around the country."

But would there still be public skepticism? We asked Ryan, "I think a lot of people do get frustrated. They feel that the state has looked at this before. There's been all these studies. Why do you think it's gonna be any different this time?" To which he replied, "Well the Governor is really leaning into this project."

2 On Your Side followed up with "Again why would this be any different...because we've had Governor Cuomo in office a number of years?" Ryan says, "He certainly realized this project that was started several Governors ago had a lot of baked in assumptions to it that the public rejected."

We also asked if the current DOT Commissioner Paul Karas is any different? According to Ryan he is "an expert in traffic planning, he's top notch and he definitely understands the problem we're having with the 198."

Ryan says he is encouraged by seeing other such re-engineering projects for urban roadways in the state like the removal of the Inner Loop expressway in Rochester and the study to remove the elevated Rt. 690 which cuts through Syracuse.

Ryan also says any planning must consider emerging factors like self driving cars and the trend for more ride sharing in cars which could both affect traffic flow in the future.

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