NY: Foes and fans of light-rail extension in Amherst find ammo for their cases in new NFTA study

The Buffalo area’s largest transportation construction project in decades is one step closer to becoming a reality – even though a group of opponents still wants to stop it in its tracks.

The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority has finished its draft of a long-awaited study of the environmental effects of a proposed extension of the Metro rail system from the University at Buffalo South Campus to beyond the UB North Campus in Amherst.

“It’s a big milestone,” said Jeffery Amplement, NFTA project manager. “We’ve never been closer to project implementation. But that’s not to say we don’t have a long way to go.”

Even without new infrastructure dollars, NFTA remains bullish on Metro Rail extension

The wait continues for Western New York commuters anticipating the proposed extension of Metro Rail to Amherst, even as the nation's new $1.2 trillion infrastructure package finances New York City megaprojects.

The light-rail proposal is widely celebrated by groups that promote sustainability and greater use of public transportation. Opponents say any benefits are far outweighed by the $1.2 billion estimated cost and the expected disruption along the proposed route.

The draft environmental impact statement, or EIS, unveiled last month reveals in greater detail how the project could affect some residents and businesses, including dozens who could lose part or all of their properties to construction of the light-rail extension.

“I’ve not heard anybody saying they’re going to take my property. What are you gonna do, throw me out on the street? I mean, really,” said Cheryl Wahl, whose home is listed in the draft statement as a potential purchase target for the NFTA.

Public input sought

The draft EIS builds upon a state-required environmental review published in early 2020. It analyzes a host of environmental impacts of the light-rail project, as well as an alternative bus project that would follow roughly the same route. Although the bus project had fewer overall impacts, the NFTA preferred the light rail due to its expected benefits.

If the light-rail project is approved, shovels could be in the ground as soon as 2028, and the first trains could run beginning in 2032, Amplement said.

The draft EIS is now open for public comments, which must be received by Sept. 8. A public hearing will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Aug. 19 at Sweet Home Middle School, 4150 Maple Road, Amherst.

Once the EIS for the project is adopted, the NFTA will finish the project design, which also must go through a public comment process.

Because the route mostly follows a heavily developed commercial and residential corridor, the environmental impacts are minimized, Amplement said.

“We say straight out in the beginning that there’s no adverse impacts for the (light-rail) project,” Amplement said, adding that “an adverse impact is not to be confused with no impact.”

The four-year long construction process would have some of the most pronounced impacts, he said.

Building the underground portions could include drilling blast holes and loading them with explosive, detonating, removing the blasted rock, pumping out any groundwater and then installing support structures to ensure the tunnels don’t collapse, according to the draft EIS.

“Construction nowadays isn’t the same as it was when we built the original rail line in the ‘80s. It’s not like from a cartoon with TNT explosions and Wile E. Coyote,” Amplement said. “It’s very controlled and there’s actually very minimal blasting that we’re going to be doing.”

Above ground, the largest construction impacts may come from temporary road closures along the course of the light-rail project, additional noise and air pollution.

After construction, the project would have additional impacts, including from vibrations and noises created by the trains running along the tracks.

“Niagara Falls Boulevard – a multi-lane thoroughfare (with) significant traffic, pretty noisy as it is,” Amplement said. “You introduce a train to that environment, no noise impacts, basically, because it’s already noisy.”

The benefits, Amplement said, far outweigh the harms done by the project.

What would expanding the Metro Rail mean?

Jim Gordon, treasurer of Citizens for Regional Transit, talks about the long-discussed project to expand the Metro Rail.

It is predicted to reduce vehicle miles traveled in the area by about 45,000 miles a day, or remove nearly 14.3 million grams per day of greenhouse gas emissions, the draft EIS found.

“Not everyone is going to leave their car for this project,” Amplement said. “But if you think cumulatively, every time that there’s a special event downtown and somebody lives off Niagara Falls Boulevard and says, ‘You know what, today, we’re going to take the train.’ And you add it up for every event, or every day, for every year, that adds up.”

This shows why some community groups have thrown their support behind the project.

The project “will reduce air emission levels, reduce or prevent collisions between pedestrians and automobiles, and improve quality of life for those who live adjacent, as well as broadly for everyone in the region,” said Bridge Rauch, environmental justice organizer with the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York.

“It’s going to be a net positive,” said Doug Funke, president of the Citizens for Regional Transit, a group that has long pushed for the light-rail expansion project. “These trains are running on hydropower electricity. There’s basically no pollution.”

The group especially urged the light-rail alternative versus the bus option due to the efficiency of a light-rail system.

NFTA wants to extend Metro Rail to Amherst. Not everyone is on board

New York State, Erie County, UB and business groups support $1.2 billion proposal to extend light rail to Amherst. But the opposition of Congressman Brian Higgins is having an effect.

Town opinions divided on project

The extension plan has stirred up some strong opposition from property owners along the route.

The proposed extension heads west on Kenmore Avenue, north on Niagara Falls Boulevard, east on Maple Road and north on Sweet Home Road before heading onto, and through, the North Campus and out on Audubon Parkway before ending at an NFTA Park & Ride lot just north of the I-990.

In the widest section north of Sheridan Drive, Niagara Falls Boulevard now has three lanes of traffic in each direction, plus a median that gives way to left turn lanes where needed.

Under the light-rail proposal, the boulevard at Treadwell Road, near the Boulevard Mall, would be reconstructed with two lanes of traffic and a bike lane in each direction, a northbound left turn lane, sidewalks on both sides of the road and, in the middle of the street, an above-ground station with a pair of tracks serving trains in each direction.

To accommodate this work, the boulevard would need to be widened from its current 94 feet across to between 133 feet and 145 feet across, the report shows. This would require the NFTA to gain access to land, through acquisition or easements, on either side of Niagara Falls Boulevard and throughout the 7-mile route.

The agency said it is working with UB and Amherst on easements involving university- and town-owned land.

“The proposal aligns with several UB and State University of New York priorities,” UB spokesperson John Della Contrada said in a statement, including improving the connection among UB’s North, South and downtown campuses and access to campus visitors.

Amherst Supervisor Brian Kulpa said he wants to hear from the public before taking a position on this specific extension plan, but, in general, he is a proponent of light rail because of the access it provides riders to jobs, retail and services.

“We want to do that in a way that is fair and equitable,” Kulpa said. “My guess is we’re a long way from where this thing is going to be.”

Tonawanda Supervisor Joseph Emminger said he has told NFTA officials he believes Tonawanda residents and businesses, especially those in the Niagara Falls Boulevard corridor, shoulder too much of the plan’s negative effects without enjoying its benefits.

“One of my initial pet peeves of this study is that the Town of Tonawanda appears to be an afterthought,” he said. “Everything is geared to Amherst.”

The NFTA, in response, said the extension project would boost the entire region.

Will Amherst embrace Metro rail extension this time?

Plans to expand the Metro rail from the University at Buffalo South Campus in Buffalo to the North Campus in Amherst ran aground in the 1980s and 1990s in the face of stiff community opposition and a lack of.

Hector’s Hardware, at 751 Niagara Falls Blvd. in Eggertsville, has “Stop the Metro” signs on its lawn and in its window.

“I wouldn’t use it,” said store manager Jeff Chameli, who urged the NFTA to run the extension underground along Millersport Highway. “And it’s gonna hurt business. It’s gonna hurt all these businesses.”

Of the 192, the agency may need to fully acquire 14 properties – four residential and 10 commercial, according to the draft EIS. The list of businesses eyed for acquisition and displacement includes a Japanese restaurant, funeral home, mattress store and two auto-body repair shops.

One resident is Cheryl Wahl, who has lived on Niagara Falls Boulevard, south of Eggert Road, for 42 years.

She is aware of the proposed light-rail extension and said she welcomes it, in theory, because she doesn’t have a car and likes the convenience it promises. However, she said she had no idea the project design tentatively targets her home for full acquisition, until a reporter showed her the list with her address on it.

“Horrible,” Wahl said.

The NFTA says it has conducted extensive community outreach and will do more in the months to come.

“We’ve really made a huge effort to be as transparent about this project as possible,” agency spokesperson Helen Tederous said.

Agency officials also say it is too soon to talk definitively about property acquisitions because the final design isn’t complete.

Others wondered whether light rail makes sense, given the cost, time and effort involved.

“As far as I know, both New York State, the federal government, have significant deficits,” said the Rev. Godwin Manuel, pastor of Christian Fellowship Baptist Church on Niagara Falls Boulevard. “So, it makes you wonder, is this a wise use of scarce resources?”