Plans to remove the remaining Inner Loop stretch got a major boost Tuesday thanks to a $100 million federal grant announced by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
The added funding — matching an earlier state award — should allow the $223 million project to move forward, officials said.
Plans are to replace the sunken highway across the northern edge of downtown with an at-grade boulevard. Doing so would consolidate multiple highway lanes, surface roads running parallel to the highway and on-and-off ramps, creating an estimated 20 acres of developable land between Interstate 490 and East Main Street.
“This is a gamechanger,” said Schumer, D-NY. “This is the final piece of the puzzle to greenlight ... construction.”
A similar project on the eastern Inner Loop stretch was completed in 2017, freeing up six acres for development that cleared the way for expansion of The Strong National Museum of Play, a new hotel, and a mix of apartments, restaurants and shops.
It was not immediately clear where the city will get the remaining $23 million. That number could change with inflation and as design and engineering work progresses. But Mayor Malik Evans is confident in the city's ability to secure the funds.
"That won't stop us from from breaking ground and moving forward on the project," he said of the funding gap.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the state’s $100 million commitment two years ago, thinking at the time that would fully fund construction. But increased construction costs and added tasks — including bridge and sewer work — led the city to seek additional help.
“What does it mean? It means new modern streets and bike lanes, green space and hundreds of new, good-paying local construction jobs in Rochester,” Schumer said in a Zoom call with area media. “But most of all, it will finally reconnect neighborhoods to the downtown. ... Simply put, today is the start of a transportation transformation for Rochester, the next chapter for Rochester downtown revitalization.”
Evans echoed that sentiment. Inner Loop North encompasses 1.5 miles of roadway (Inner Loop East was two-thirds of a mile), involves 10 bridges (the eastern section removed three) and 7,000 feet of retaining walls.
A city land use study that could help determine what gets built is ongoing and should be completed this summer. Community input sessions continue to be scheduled.
"The actual project itself is going to be a major, major infrastructure project for the city," the mayor said, speaking to reporters at City Hall. "But the other thing is all of the ancillary benefits that will come from it, the green space, the development, the reconnecting of the neighborhoods."
The $100 million Reconnecting Communities federal grant is the largest of its type ever awarded to a community.
That grant program is part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. And the award comes days before Republican President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The change in administrations — also ushering in a GOP majority in the Senate — played into the timing. Schumer said he called Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg numerous times in recent weeks urging approval of the grant.
“I had helped put together the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which has brought so much money to New York, to upstate New York, and to the Rochester Finger Lakes area,” Schumer said. “So I didn't want to risk that a change in administration, they might try to back off, pull back the money, etc. So we wanted to make sure all the money was in hand before there was a change in administration. And that's what we've done.”
