SCHUMER MEETS WITH TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY FOXX, PUSHES TO SECURE FEDERAL INVESTMENT TO FILL-IN PORTION OF SUNKEN INNER LOOP & UNLEASH BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, MAJOR JOB CREATION IN ROCHESTER
Schumer Urges Secretary Foxx To Award Rochester $17.7 Million DOT Grant For City’s Project to Fill-In Sunken Southeast Section of Inner Loop Expressway; Sunken Highway Is A Barrier To Economic Development in Downtown Rochester
Project Would Set Stage for Business Development, Spur Economic Growth, and Create 300 Construction Jobs and at 1000 Jobs at Full Development, According To The City
Schumer Urges Foxx To Support Plan To Fill In This Concrete Moat Blocking Job Creation
In a personal meeting with Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer urged him to select the City of Rochester’s application for a $17.7 million TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) Discretionary Grant, for the City’s Inner Loop East Reconstruction Project. The Inner Loop Expressway is an underutilized and deteriorated highway that isolates Rochester’s downtown from the rest of the City and its vibrant neighborhoods nearby, which creates an impediment to economic activity and business development in the area. This project would remove the southeast section of this obstructive, 12-lane wide section of the Inner Loop Expressway, and replace it with a new high quality city boulevard and open up 9 acres for new prime real-estate development. Schumer spoke to Secretary Foxx on behalf of the project, and highlighted that it’s one of his top priorities for funding through the TIGER program. Schumer pointed out that the project would reconnect downtown with the rest of Rochester, and set the stage for future business development, job creation and economic growth. Schumer noted that city officials have told him that the Inner Loop project would create or retain over 300 jobs initially and up to 1,000 jobs at full build-out, create nine acres of land for further development, and produce as much as $11.6 million annually in new property taxes.
“For decades, the Inner Loop has acted like a concrete moat around downtown Rochester, keeping businesses, residents, shoppers and investments alike out of the downtown – and that has to stop,” said Schumer. “The City of Rochester has put together an incredibly well-developed plan to remove that obstacle to growth and economic development, and I have gone straight to the top to urge the Department of Transportation to accept the City’s application for this TIGER grant. I told Secretary Foxx that this project should be a priority, because with this funding the City of Rochester will remove the underutilized and deteriorating portion of the Inner Loop Expressway and replace it with a boulevard, which will reconnect downtown with the rest of the City in the vibrant East End and Monroe Corridor, pave the way for increased economic development and activity in downtown Rochester, and create up to a thousand jobs at the project’s full roll-out.”
The City has submitted its application for a $17.7 million TIGER grant and, if awarded, the investment would remove a deteriorated and underutilized section of the Inner Loop Expressway and replace it with a new, high quality, at-grade city boulevard and open roughly nine acres of land to mixed-use redevelopment, which could leverage an additional 430,000 to 800,000 square feet of commercial and residential space. This project will reconnect neighborhoods like the Upper East End and Monroe Village to Rochester’s downtown, develop infrastructure better suited for private sector investment.
The Inner Loop Expressway was built in the 1960s, and due to its placement and width has created a major division between downtown Rochester and the rest of the City, and has also broken up neighborhoods in the area. In addition, the southeast part of the Inner Loop Expressway is extremely underutilized, and it is abundantly clear that removal of this section of the Inner Loop will not impair vehicle traffic in this area. As is, the Inner Loop serves as a physical and psychological barrier to Rochester’s downtown, impeding everything from foot traffic to bikers and discouraging business development in the region. In addition, the Inner Loop and its frontage roads separate the downtown from adjacent thriving neighborhoods, like the Neighborhood of the Arts, Upper East End, Park Avenue and Monroe Village, which would be economic assets to the downtown if better connected.
With the TIGER grant investment, the City of Rochester plans to replace this expressway with an at-grade boulevard that will reconnect neighborhoods and encourage increased use of the downtown. This project would be a major job creator in the region, creating or retaining over 300 jobs initially and up to 1,000 jobs at full build-out according to City officials. These plans would also create nine acres of land for development, and produce as much as $11.6 million annually in new property taxes for the City. Schumer noted that many new privately-financed housing, commercial, and entertainment projects along this section of the Inner Loop underscore the anticipated market demand for new developable parcels in this area.
In 2011, the local metropolitan planning organization, the Genesee Transportation Council, passed a unanimous resolution making the Inner Loop East project the highest priority TIGER project in the nine-county Genesee-Finger Lakes Region. This means that all nine counties, as well as regional and state agencies, recognized this project as the region’s highest priority for TIGER funding.
Schumer has long supported and fought on behalf of the City of Rochester’s efforts to revitalize the City. In September 2012, Schumer secured approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for a nearly $20 million required to move the College Town redevelopment project to construction. In June 2012, Schumer announced that, after his push, the City of Rochester had secured a $15 million TIGER grant for Rochester’s Intermodal Transportation Center (RITC)—which will complement high speed rail development, and provide travelers and Rochester residents with a more modern, safe, and accessible transportation facility. In 2011, Schumer helped secure a $1.45 million federal grant to help fund the Marina construction which is part of the City’s $19 million Port Revitalization Project.
The TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) Discretionary Grant Program was developed to spur a national competition for innovative, multi-modal and multi-jurisdictional transportation projects that promise significant economic and environmental benefits to an entire metropolitan area, a region or the nation. Projects that typically receive TIGER grants include improvements to roads, bridges, rail, ports, transit and intermodal facilities, and Schumer noted that the City of Rochester’s plan fits squarely within the program’s mission.