NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. -- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was in Niagara Falls Thursday to announce a name change for the Robert Moses Parkway.
The parkway will now be called the "Niagara Scenic Parkway."
"Robert Moses Parkway was a mistake," said Cuomo during a press conference. "You don't block off your greatest asset."
Work started a couple of years ago to alter the parkway to provide more access to the waterfront. In March, Cuomo announced a $42 million project that would replace the parkway with open space, scenic overlooks and trails. This will link the Niagara River Gorge and Falls into a single destination and allow easier access to the water’s edge.
The removal of the parkway is expected to start in 2018 and take about two years.
While in Niagara falls, the governor also toured Niagara Falls State park, where $17 million worth of work is being conducted to make the park, as Mr. Cuomo put it, "a first class experience as it should be".
Highlights include:
- The restoration of Terrapin Point, a favorite viewing spot for the Horseshoe Falls, which has been the subject of a $4.4 million project to create accessible pathways, larger overlook areas, new railings, pavers, lighting, benches and new landscaping. The work is consistent with Olmsted’s principles and will closely resemble other areas of the park that have already been restored. Closed to teh public while the work progressed, Terrapin Point is scheduled to reopen on July 4.
- A Cave of the Winds Pedestrian Plaza, which at $5.6 million involved larger dining areas, concessions and new restroom facilities. According to the state, Stedman’s Bluff overlooking Bridal and American Falls will be enhanced with new pavers, new railings, and a raised planting area featuring boulders as part of a sitting area.
- Stedman’s Bluff will also be the new home of the statute of inventor Nikolai Tesla., known as the father of alternating current, which was previously located near a parking lot on Goat Island.
- A new, $7 million Cave of the Winds Experience Building: The building will house a year-round, 30-minute interactive program featuring the natural and cultural history of Niagara Falls, (The decks constructed every spring at the base of the Falls will still be closed during the winter).
Construction on the new building will begin this month, and is scheduled for completion in late 2017.
While the governor was in town to tout the state's investments in the nation's oldest state park, 2 On Your Side’s Dave McKinley took the opportunity to ask how the new concessions in the park can be expected to benefit the City of Niagara Falls itself.
He also asked the governor about the push for ethics reform in Albany,
You can watch Dave's report here and listen to Governor Cuomo’s complete comments.
