Our radial plan, a mixed-use core district,
residential communities and a series of
gateways define downtown...

Each of the five investment areas is thematically and geographically distinct. The residential component has several clusters, and the financial district is actually two districts: one at the north end anchored by Fountain Plaza, the other at the south end of anchored by HSBC Center. Otherwise, each focus area has an identifiable place and a clear function. But a great Downtown must be more than a collection of districts. It must provide an interconnected environment, overlapping activities, and continuous experience. 

To achieve this goal, Downtown needs to emphasize, and where possible restore, the interconnections provided by Joseph Ellicott’s historic radial and grid street plan; it needs to announce this special Downtown environment with celebratory gateways; and it needs to foster the development of fine- grained mixed uses that define the pattern of the urban fabric. All of this must be done in concert with the historic stock of existing buildings and the designated historic districts in the downtown.

The Radial Plan

The street system of any city is what allows it life, movement, and exchange. Downtown Buffalo’s street pattern, now nearly 200 years old, made it possible for a vibrant urban life to flourish. Interruptions of that pattern, and the introduction of many one-way streets, coincided with the waning of that life. The activities of the city cannot be connected if connections don’t exist. 

Current work in implementing Downtown Strategic Plan has emphasized the restoration of two-way traffic to many streets, including Chippewa, Franklin, Ellicott, Huron, and Washington. Current planning work has also focused on alternatives for reopening Main Street to automobile traffic, in addition to transit and pedestrians. Recent proposals have also identified the potential benefits of reestablishing major radial connections such as Genesee Street through Downtown and on toward the waterfront.

All of these initiatives have the potential to connect the different focus areas of Downtown and to help it become more than the sum of its parts. The radial and grid street plan also connects Downtown with its surrounding neighborhoods, all of the waterfront, the rest of the city, and all of upstate New York. The historic Native American “first people’s” trail, now known as Main Street, deserves special emphasis, as does Genesee Street, Broadway, Delaware Avenue and Niagara Street. These radials help integrate the historic Black Rock, Riverside, and Main Street grids that make up the body of our city. 

Gateways that celebrate the connections between Downtown and the city can help define and announce the Downtown core, and focus our attention on needs for investment in infrastructure, environment, and the urban fabric.

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