City of Buffalo Buffalo Roadway Rehabilitation

The DPW’s Engineering Department plays a crucial role in overseeing various responsibilities, including construction and paving of city streets, as well as installation of traffic signals and signage. Their tasks extend to maintaining over 32,000 street lights, managing forty-four bridges, overseeing harbor functions. In alignment with its mission, the DPW assessed a major city artery. Findings revealed issues like potholes, faded striping, and traffic safety concerns such as weaving, illegal left turns, standing vehicles, and speeding caused by the road configuration. The project, known as Buffalo Roadway Rehabilitation, rehabilitation of over five centerline miles of city roadways, with deeper repairs as required, along several street segments with a goal to enhance safety and functionality for all road users without compromising traffic flow on this urban principal arterial. Key goals included upgrading technology for traffic signals, optimizing pedestrian crossings, introducing bicycle facilities, and addressing overall road conditions.

GPI provided design and continues to provide construction administration and inspection services, focusing on addressing deterioration, restoring proper grade, replacing non-compliant sidewalk curb ramps with ADA-compliant ones, and incorporating crosswalk striping, stop bars, and centerline striping. The initiative also involves cleaning and rehabilitating the street’s drainage structures, with targeted spot repairs on sidewalks and curbs. On Delaware Avenue, GPI designed lane reconfigurations that include dedicated bike lanes, high-visibility crosswalks, a pedestrian refuge island, and flashing beacon assemblies. GPI also assessed the traffic signal control cabinets there to assess their capacity to support equipment for signal interconnect/coordination and delivered a comprehensive report outlining options aligned with the city’s requirements to enhance safety and operational efficiency in the existing setup. Construction activities demanded extensive coordination, considering factors such as regular and seasonal traffic flows and ongoing projects in the city.