Buffalo’s Michigan Avenue corridor is in line for a facelift, thanks to $12 million in total new funding from local, state and federal sources.
The streetscape project is expected to start in 2027 and will stretch along Michigan Avenue from Ohio Street to North Street.
Taking another step to improve the corridor is exciting because it will have a cascading effect on other parts of the community, State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes said.
“It's exciting to be on Michigan Avenue talking about an infrastructure project. People sometimes don't think that infrastructure work is valuable to a community. It adds value to it. They're mostly looking for not-for-profits and things like that," she said. "But when you do infrastructure, everything just blows up. And we already have some great things here, quite frankly, and I'm super proud of the effort that I put in to make that happen.”
Preserving and improving Michigan Avenue isn't just important the current day, but also because of what the area represents for Buffalo's history, said Terry Alford, executive director of the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor Commission.
“At the beginnings of the early 20th Century, the corridor served as the beacon of hope and opportunity for hundreds of African American families coming to Buffalo, escaping Jim Crow, or worse," he said. "Over this time, those families did better economically and allowed them to move further along the corridor.”
The project will include new, wider sidewalks and curbs, updated benches and signage, and improved street lighting.
The new funding is in addition to $4 million that previously was secured through the Regional Transportation Improvement Program.
