NY: GoBike proposing new corridor in Niagara Falls north end

A new biking corridor is being proposed in the North End of Niagara Falls, helping to better connect the Highland neighborhood with nearby trails.

GoBike, the Buffalo organization working to create biking mobility options throughout Western New York, is working to create a less-than-a-mile route. It would start at D’Amelio Park, then travel along Garden Avenue and 10th Street before ending at the intersection of Main Street and Depot Avenue West, next to the Niagara Falls Amtrak Station.

From there, this corridor would connect to the trails running alongside the Niagara Gorge.

Cat Stoehr, a grant writer and development manager for GoBike, said the project rose out of extensive community outreach in that part of the city and conversations with now- City Council Chairman Brian Archie. This route was part of a bike masterplan GoBike did for the city in 2019, which was meant to create new connections between the city’s different areas of green space.

“Once we receive funding, our process is to work with the community,” Stoehr said, adding there would be further public meetings about how this corridor would be developed. “We are in a constant feedback loop of listening to them first about their concerns, leading this interactive, hands-on process.”

The project application for Niagara River Greenway Commission funding describes this corridor as one element of a holistic set of projects GoBike is proposing for the Highland Community, increasing safe connections between this neighborhood and the Niagara River Greenway trail and park system.

“The proposed North End Safety Corridor will play an absolutely essential role in our goal of creating safer pathways between underserved residents in Niagara Falls and their own green space through low-cost, quick-build treatments,” the application reads. Other possible future projects include a traffic garden at the corner of Calmut and Highland Avenues, which would be a space for new cyclists to practice road safety skills.

To fund this, GoBike plans on asking the Niagara River Greenway Commission’s host community standing committee for $50,000, which meets in March after its January meeting was canceled. The organization also plans on using $27,500 of its own assets, $25,000 from the WNY Health Foundation, and $9,935 from the Niagara Area Foundation for the remaining funds.

Depending on funding availability, the corridor would be fully installed by the early summer of 2027.

Through GoBike’s existing outreach efforts throughout the city, around 60% of residents feel unsafe riding their bikes through the city, mainly due to a lack of appropriate bike infrastructure. There is also interest in increasing access to the Niagara River and State Parks areas.

The organization also has a database tracking nearly 200,000 crashes involving vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians in Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua, and Cattaraugus counties since 2018. Along the proposed corridor, there have been 21 crashes in that timeframe, with four resulting in injuries and no fatalities.

“If you put in those options for streetscapes, you do create those community ties, giving older adults more confidence to walk from place to place,” said GoBike Deputy Director Kevin Heffernan. “When roads are full of speeding cars, people will stay home and can only drive from place to place. You cannot create a strong neighborhood.”

The corridor is still in the design phase, with plans for what to do still in community discussion. Temporary paint treatments added to the road can last between one and seven years based on the durability of the paint used and standard wear conditions.

Past work GoBike has done in Niagara Falls includes having a local artist add road artwork to the intersection of Monteagle and Main Streets as an effort to get cars to slow down, though the paint used has faded since that was done in Sept. 2022. Elsewhere, the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area adopted street art at the five-way intersection of Portage Road and Main Street this past fall to better regulate traffic flow.

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