Honor Mayor Ryan’s Request. Give Buffalo a Lead Role. Fund the Next Step.

To Governor Kathy Hochul and New York State Department of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez:

We are calling on Governor Hochul and NYSDOT to honor Mayor Sean Ryan’s March 2026 request to designate the City of Buffalo as lead agency for the next phase of the Scajaquada Corridor/Route 198 project and to allocate $56 million for environmental review and design.

Buffalo has waited long enough.

For more than two decades, Buffalo has waited for a meaningful plan for the future of the Scajaquada Expressway.

The Greater Buffalo Niagara Regional Transportation Council’s Region Central planning process, completed in 2023 after extensive community engagement, produced a thoughtful, community-supported vision for transforming the corridor.

That planning process was never intended to be the end of the road.

It was the bridge to the next phase.

Now we need environmental review, engineering, and design. We need action—not another round of indefinite planning.

Let Buffalo determine Buffalo’s future.

In March 2026, Mayor Sean Ryan formally asked NYSDOT to make the City of Buffalo the lead agency for the next phase of the project and requested $56 million in the NYSDOT Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) to move Region Central forward.

The Scajaquada Corridor Coalition strongly supports that request.

The future of Route 198 will affect Buffalo neighborhoods, Delaware Park, Humboldt Parkway, businesses, pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, and generations of Buffalo residents.

Buffalo should have a leading role in determining what happens to a transportation corridor that runs through the heart of our city.

The State should partner with Buffalo — not simply plan for Buffalo.

We cannot afford another decade of delay. Buffalo has already invested years of community effort, public meetings, planning, and advocacy in developing a vision for this corridor.

The Region Central process represents an important consensus about where we should go next.

Now NYSDOT must help make that next step possible. We call upon Governor Hochul and NYSDOT to:

1. DESIGNATE THE CITY OF BUFFALO AS LEAD AGENCY for the next phase of the Scajaquada Corridor/Route 198 project, as requested by Mayor Ryan.
2. ALLOCATE $56 MILLION through the Transportation Improvement Program for environmental review and design.
3. MOVE REGION CENTRAL INTO ITS NEXT PHASE rather than allowing the project to languish in planning.
4. ESTABLISH A CLEAR TIMELINE for environmental review, engineering, design, and implementation.
5. ENSURE MEANINGFUL COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION AND LOCAL LEADERSHIP throughout the process.

The time for action is now.

The Scajaquada Expressway was built through Buffalo neighborhoods, destroyed a historic Olmsted parkway, and divided our city's largest park.

Buffalo has lived with the consequences for generations.

Buffalo residents have now helped create a different vision for the future.

We should not have to wait another generation to see that vision move forward.

Governor Hochul and NYSDOT have an opportunity to demonstrate that when New Yorkers participate in planning their communities, their voices lead to action.

Honor Mayor Ryan’s request.
Fund the next step.
Give Buffalo a leading voice in its future.

ADVANCE REGION CENTRAL NOW.
LET THE PARKWAY LIVE.
SIGN THE PETITION.