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The Inner Loop North “replacement” is glibly praised (“Inner Loop North project gets $100 million boost,” Rochester Beacon, 1/7/25), yet facts show that there will be no “replacement.” Those presently using the ILN to get from east to west will simply have to use existing streets! The federal program of removing highway barriers in central cities has, nationwide, provided an at-grade street as a replacement, as did the earlier Inner Loop East project where rebuilt Union Street was a “complete street” replacement.
Neighborhoods were indeed separated by the Inner Loop East, but the current north portion only provides one new connection: Gibbs Street. Air pollution will be worse not better, because stop-go traffic on city streets is worse than that caused by a smooth flowing uninterupted expressway. The impact of increased traffic on existing neighborhoods, such as those east of Chestnut Street, has not been honestly presented. Data obtained by FOIL indicated that existing traffic volumes east of Chestnut Street were probably taken during Covid-19 years and thus likely were much lower than would be the case today. That will burden neighborhood streets such as University Avenue with dramatic increases in projected traffic, to their detriment.
Richard Rosen
Downtown resident on Charlotte Street
While I love the idea of revitalizing and expanding residential neighborhoods, I cannot help feeling that the Inner Loop projects are misguided. Instead of filling in the loop, there could have been an effort to create a tunnel. Since the digging was already done, it would have been relatively inexpensive to provide a tunnel for a light rail or other people mover system (not cars) to carry people around “downtown” Rochester. This would have helped residents of the immediate area get around to jobs and everyday needs, and also encouraged others to come downtown because they could park their cars and not have to navigate congested streets. A substantial opportunity was missed.
The I-490 walls and bridge, built at the same time, were usefully maintained, and for far less cost than the $230,000,000 now allocated. The cities builder incentive program , “Buy The Block” can be used in the adjacent dozens of vacant lots east of Chestnut St. good points.
Big projects, meant to do good, often result in adverse unintended consequences. If I recall correctly when Tom Richards was Mayor, the motivation for filling in the entire loop was that it was more expensive to upgrade, repair, and maintain the existing infrastructure than to fill it in. The north side of the inner loop is primarily industrial and commercial, so I think creating more housing opportunities will yield limited results.