Buffalo Rising Online

I thought the Skyway was staying?

Fantastic. Glad to see the trail is open. I never knew a Michigan Street bridge existed - that would certainly make life easier in riding/walking over to the outer harbor. I too take Ohio Street to the end, then hang a right all the way down to the Coast Guard station.

Actually...

I wouldn't count on the Skyway staying permenantly. It'll be several years, but, I know funds were allocated in to engineering studies to replace it for FY-'09 and FY '10.

Which means it's the first step in a lengthy process to remove it... It isn't coming down overnight, but I far from think the idea is dead.

Assuming there isn't some Skyway-friendly special interest group that'll sue to keep it up. :)

Michigan street bridge is not just a must for bikers and pedestrians to access the outer harbor but also a major component of alternative access to the city to promote removing the skyway. Until we have that bridge and maybe one more the DOT would never allow the Skyway to come down no matter how hard we fight. Can be seen by their obvious disregard for public input for the route 5 project even when places like hamburg said its unnecessary.

Try walking it sometime.. it takes 3 hours to get from the erie basin marina to the coast guard station.. I did it once. The skyway which costs million and millions of dollars to improve access still ignores a fundamental population of our city. Residents without cars and tourists. If we have the money to spend that much on just maintaining the skyway but somehow cry poor when people propose something that would provide pedestrian access. BS.

At the risk of being labeled as complaining about anything.....

Why did they make the path wind back and forth like that? Wouldn't they want people to be able to enjoy riding on the waterfront, watching the boats, without having to keep a constant eye on the path lane as it moves left and right? Windy paths are for bland suburban areas to make it interesting where theres nothing else to look at. A simple straight path probably would be more well suited for this location unless the terrain actually required it to be different.

Regardless, glad its open.

yeah, really. Its a small thing at this point, but, as a planner, it makes me wonder about what people were thinking when they designed it. There are many different ways to design a path, appropriate for different locations, and it just made me wonder why they chose this one for this location. Not a huge deal, but it just seems to be a senseless part of the design. Does it really need to wind back and forth for it to be a nice design?

Again, not a big deal, I'm sure its a great path and I look forward to riding it.

Right, its fine. Like I said, not that big of a deal.

Is the path clean enough for rollerblading yet, or is there a lot of mud on it?

I think townline is responding to the less then graceful curve. it looks like the path is trying to avoid something and could create an awkward condition for bikes moving in opposing direction. it should arc more gently.

But the path awsome.. just that it is finally there...a great bike ride!

Larger trees should have been planted. Those little guys are going to have a tough time with the wind.

Looks great. can't wait to go for a bike ride and do some fishing.

good points orlanmon. Thats kind of the conversation i was looking for.

I have ridden the new path several times and it is wonderful. I can't wait to see what it looks like once all the vegetation fills in!

Those pictures look nice. Sucks about the noise from the elevated section of Route 5.

I'm afraid that noise will always take away from any fishing piers, bike paths, or 'olmstedian' parkways. I hate that noise

Those pictures look nice. Sucks about the noise from the elevated section of Route 5.

I'm afraid that noise will always take away from any fishing piers, bike paths, or 'olmstedian' parkways. I hate that noise

Ditto what rb66 said about the trees. Should have spent a bit of money to buy more mature/larger trees, and could at least staked them properly. The way the wind is down there- they'll probably end up in someone's backyard in West Seneca before long.

Who is responsible for trail and landscape maintenance? NFTA? That'll be scary.

WCP...I doubt it is the NFTA since they are basically giving(ot it may have already happened) over control of the parcel to the ECDHC.

To those who have been down there, does the path run all the way to the former location of Shooters?