Kensington Expressway Project on hold after judge's ruling

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- A State Supreme Court Judge ruled on Friday that the $1.2 billion Kensington Expressway Project cannot move forward until it completes an environmental study.

Judge Emilio Colaiacovo said “no rational person” can conclude that the project would not have adverse effects on the community based on the evidence shown thus far.

“In light of the undisputed potential adverse health effects that will occur from the greenhouse emissions, traffic, blasting, and other related impacts associated with heavy industrial construction, the Respondents erred by neglecting to perform an (Environmental Impact Statement). … Especially in light of what this affected area has already sustained, the Respondents should have performed an EIS.”

The state’s plan seeks to reconnect neighborhoods on Buffalo’s East Side, capping an approximately .75-mile portion of Route 33 and topping it with a park.

The completion of an EIS has been a major sticking point for community groups, including the East Side Parkways Coalition, which has been in a months-long legal battle with New York State.

The East Side Parkways Coalition supported Colaiacovo’s decision.

“This decision was anticipated and we agree that it is the correct one,” the coalition said in a statement. “The Court reviewed the government’s submissions and properly determined that DOT failed to proceed with a study that did not adequately explore the far-reaching consequences of its project, including the unfiltered air coming from the ‘toxic tunnel’ and the health effects on the surrounding neighborhoods.”

“Continuing this expressway will only repeat and perpetuate the wrongs of previous siting and transportation decisions and the decades of significant adverse impact on the neighborhoods. The proposed highway expansion would create desperate, negative impacts on the predominantly minority and disadvantaged communities within the project area. It is time to promote the value of human life over travel time, to remove the expressway, and to restore Humboldt Parkway.”

Construction of the project was initially expected to begin by the end of last year, with a projected completion date of 2028.