The latest stage of the "Cars Sharing Main Street Project" is almost complete in downtown Buffalo. Cars and trucks may be heading back to the 500 Block of Main Street as early as next week.
"We're getting close," Doug Hartmayer, the Director of Public Affairs for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority tells 7 Eyewitness News Anchor Jeff Russo.
Hartmayer says the legal department from the NFTA was scheduled to discuss the memorandum of agreement with officials from the City of Buffalo on Monday in one of the final steps before vehicular traffic returns to the 500 Block. "Dotting the I's and crossing the T's and if all goes well I think it's the goal and wish that maybe we can give the citizens of Buffalo an early Christmas present and have traffic on Main Street by some point next week," said Hartmayer.
The NFTA recently completed it's safety hazard analysis for the 500 block and has been given it's final ok from the Public Transportation Safety Board to move forward. "It's the next logical step for revitalization of downtown," said Hartmayer.
The City of Buffalo has been working with Buffalo Place Inc. and the NFTA on the multi-phase project. The goal is to return two-way traffic to Main Street. The project has included updating the sidewalks and adding new short-term parking for visitors to downtown. Construction on the 500 block of Main Street started in the fall of 2013 and according the the City of Buffalo website cost $21 million.
Similar work has already been completed on the 600 and 700 blocks.
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