AMHERST, N.Y. — The group "Stop the Metro" held a community meeting Wednesday night discussing its opposition to the NFTA's possible expansion of the metro rail to the University at Buffalo North Campus.
While Niagara Falls Boulevard is already overwhelmed by the loud noise that comes with the busy traffic, neighbors are concerned that will only worsen.
The proposed plan from the NFTA would take the existing rail system and expand it by seven miles, starting from UB’s South Campus station to UB’s North Campus, working its way above ground up Niagara Falls Boulevard before extending all the way to the John Audubon Parkway and Interstate 990. Ten new proposed stations would come with the project that is projected to cost $1 billion.
This has had neighbors along that route quite concerned and brought a room full of them to the meeting in Amherst, where they made their concerns known to the NFTA.
“Car traffic, that's the rubber tires,” Stop The Metro organizer Michael Nigrin said. “It's a totally different scenario when you have metal on metal. It’s a higher-pitch frequency. Have you been in New York City subway? It's unbearable. You have to close your ears sometimes when they come.”
Residents are proposing a rapid bus as an alternative to the rail system. However, the NFTA says that would still be too inconvenient for users.
The NFTA is still in the early stages of the project but feels that adding a light rail would do nothing but contribute positively to the Amherst community. It anticipates it would bring significant economic development with it by connecting the Downtown Buffalo economy to Amherst and allow riders to take a one-seat trip to the heart of downtown and back.
“The train won't make any more noise than these cars will, in our opinion,” said Tom George, VP of Operations at the NFTA. “But again, we'll have to quantify that through the science and do the studies that actually determine it and be able to present that to the public.”
The NFTA is currently conducting environmental evaluations but plans to have an environmental impact statement ready for resident to review by the new year.