Does anyone else believe that the Federal Highway Administration, elected officials, and the Public Bridge Authority are being totally forthcoming with all the information behind the massive bridge and plaza expansion project?

As a West Side resident, I find it hard to understand how they intend to fit a second bridge measuring 345 feet tall, connecting ramps, access roads, parking lots, a duty free store, three story parking garage, visitor’s center, and a 15-acre truck plaza inside five city blocks.

In comparison, the HSBC Tower in downtown Buffalo stands 540 feet tall—40 stories high. It can be seen from as far away as Elma.

A 345-feet-high bridge and accompanying 40-acre “plaza” will be absurdly out of proportion with the scale of the surviving neighborhood. Residents and home owners who will be left to live with the decade-long construction phase have every right to ask if this is the best place to support a colossal transportation project.

Because if it isn’t, what is left of a once intact “historic” community will become a continuous land-grab until the Public Bridge Authority gets it right. By then we’ll be looking at a valueless community made up of concrete and steel, pelted with the scent of diesel. Who is going to want to live there?

Kathleen Mecca, Buffalo

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