By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo
As Western New York discusses the pros and cons of downgrading one major highway, it’s probably a fair assumption that there aren’t many clamoring for these two highways which were never built.
Talk of a West Side Expressway lingered into the 1980s, but right of ways would have cut through what is now a revitalized Delaware Avenue corridor, the Chippewa Strip and the Theater District.
The other highway exists practically speaking, but as city streets. The buildings and businesses between Elm and Oak were acquired in preparation for a highway which was never built. Still, the wide-lane one direction roads act as the quickest way to connect the Kensington Expressway with the Thruway.
