Members of ESP coalition suing NYSDOT over Route 33 plans

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Two members of a group opposing the state’s Kensington Expressway plans say they’re suing the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT).

Marcia Ladiana and Terry Richardson, residents of Humboldt Parkway, are part of the East Side Parkways Coalition, which has been calling for an alternative to the state’s $922 million plan to build a tunnel over nearly one mile of the highway.

There’s been concern about how the project will impact Buffalo’s east side, with residents sharing concerns over factors like business, the connection between parks and air quality.

According to the coalition, the state’s plan “has two disastrous consequences:”

• “The tunnel will cement in place that Delaware Park and Martin Luther King Park (MLK Park) will never be connected by a parkway because extension of a prospective tunnel would run into the buried Scajaquada Creek.”

• “Concentrated exhaust plumes will be blown out the tunnel portal ends toward dozens of schools, youth facilities, parks, museums and churches.”

Ladiana and Richardson’s lawsuit is calling for a full environmental impact study before a final plan for the area is implemented.

News 4 has reached out to the NYSDOT for comment.

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