Both of New York’s U.S. Senators say they’re pushing federal aid for City of Rochester plans to get rid of the remaining half of the Inner Loop, the expressway that once circled downtown Rochester.
The eastern end of the Loop was filled in through a massive, federally-supported project that ended a few years ago. Replacing the western end which runs from State Street to West Main Street would be an even bigger job, costing $100 million. But it would return 22 acres of downtown to the tax rolls, creating new land that could be developed. It would also reconnect the city neighborhoods on the west side and the northeast side with downtown.
Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand were in Rochester Tuesday, saying they want to see the Inner Loop project funded through the Reconnecting Communities Act and to also make it part of President Biden’s American Jobs Plan. That would kick-start planning for the project.
Schumer said highways driven through low-income city neighborhoods and communities of color have cut them off from the rest of the city, and limited their economic prospects. He says the Inner Loop is a sunken moat that divides the city.
The Inner Loop was built for a community that mostly worked in the center city and was supposed to speed up travel around it. But it was finished just as that period of the city’s development was ending.