ByJAMES FINK
jfink@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1611

One month after Mayor Byron Brown submitted a critical federal application to secure key funding for the next phase of the "Cars Sharing Main Street" initiative, he received high-powered support from Washington.

Sen. Charles Schumer has joined ranks with Brown to secure $32 million from the federal Department of Transportation through the TIGER III discretionary grants program. The money, if awarded, could trigger an $8 million state allocation and allow for more blocks of the Buffalo Place pedestrian mall to be reworked to include one lane, both north and south, of traffic.

New York's senior senator lobbied Ray LaHood, Department of Transportation secretary, on Buffalo's behalf.

"The Main Street Revitalization Project (commonly referred to as Cars Sharing Main Street) would be a critical investment in the City of Buffalo that would breathe new life into its downtown," Schumer said. "Take a walk down Main Street today and you will see that the image is far different from a time when shops were bustling with activity and cars had freer access to pick up and drop off shoppers, eaters, gawkers and walkers.

"Opening up Buffalo's Main Street to vehicular traffic and improving aging Metro Rail facilities would be a major economic boost for the downtown, as it would pave the way for increased business and economic activity in the area."

Schumer said such enhancements also would increase downtown property and tax values.

His letter to LaHood is considered a milestone in Buffalo's effort to secure the TIGER III funds.

Cars Sharing Main Street is designed to correct an urban planning mistake from the 1980s that saw cars removed from Main Street to make way for the Metro Rail transit mall.

Through the current initiative, vehicular traffic has already returned to downtown's 700 block of Main Street. Crews are preparing to go to bid for work on the 600 block of Main Street that cuts through the city's Theater District. That work, estimated to cost $9.6 million, will take place next year.

Buffalo allocated $2.2 million for the work on the 700 block.

In his capital-improvement budget, Brown is seeking $428,000 to help pay for Cars Sharing Main Street engineering studies. The mayor said the $32 million Tiger III grant could leverage another $8 million from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York.

The Tiger III monies will be used for design and construction of later phases of Cars Sharing Main Street, beginning at Chippewa Street and running south to Perry Street.

Combined, the $40 million in state and federal aid could underwrite the bulk of costs.