BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — A bright and sunny day in Buffalo's celebrated Allentown Neighborhood was disrupted once again by yet another week of work on the Allen Street Reconstruction Project.
"It seems to have been taking quite a long time," says Eric Peterson, who has lived in Allentown for close to 20 years, "as a resident it seems to be extensive,"
Phase Two of the Allen Street Reconstruction Project stretches from Delaware Avenue to the West to Wadsworth Street right through the heart of Allentown. Utility work started on Phase Two in 2021.
"I don't know how it's taken this long," said Scott Patrick Sellitto, an Allentown resident that believes the duration of the construction and road closures have been holding the neighborhood back, "It's destroyed businesses here. Businesses are suffering, some are closing, some people are selling their buildings. It's just awful."
Long time business owner Moe Mghan agrees, "It's a nightmare for us," said Mghan, who has operated Holley Farms Convenience Store on Allen Street for 30 years. He says the work has been limiting people's access to his store which has had a huge impact on business.
"A good 30 percent of my business," said Mghan, "people can't get here." Mghan said if construction doesn't finish up soon he doesn't know what will happen. "If it keeps up, we are gonna run out of business, like a lot of stuff, everything on our block is up for sale."
7 News Anchor Jeff Russo reached out to the City of Buffalo Department of Public Works to get an update on where the project stands.
"We understand the frustration," said Nolan Skipper, City Engineer with the City of Buffalo DPW. Phase two of the Allen Street Reconstruction Project was supposed to be completed in the winter of 2022, but Skipper says a 6 month extension for the contractor was needed.
"In discussions with businesses in the area we decided to go block by block. With that said, we understood the contractor would need some extra time," said Skipper.
The bulk of the work right now is focusing on the area between Mariner and College Streets. That block has felt the brunt of the impact over the last several months. Skipper believes the work should finish soon. "Mariner to College we started in earnest in May and we are hopeful to pour concrete, weather dependent, next week and be out of the block, which would be the week of July 10th," said Skipper.
Work will then move to the intersection of Allen and Elmwood before returning to finish the block of Allen between College and Wadsworth. The goal is for the full project to be done by the end of 2023.
"It's a full reconstruction project. We don't see many of these in the city. We understand there may be some pain to go through, but like I said, with new infrastructure built at the end of this we hope not to have to touch (this area) for 50 plus years," said Skipper.
