Rochester's $100M Highway Removal Project Aims to Reunite Neighborhoods
Planning to remove the Inner Loop began in the early 1990s. The smaller eastern portion was removed in an earlier $22-million project completed in 2017. Stantec designed that project, and Concrete Applied Technologies Corp. of Alden, N.Y., was the general contractor, records show. Rochester officials say the project opened up nearly 6 acres of land, which drew $400 million in private investment to build housing and other redevelopments.
Hofmann says the Inner Loop East project team had significant community engagement, which helped refine the final design with features like a cycle track, which he hopes to extend with the new project.
“It’s been wonderful from a community standpoint,” he says.
The project would also add green space and create room for new development. Hofmann estimates about 22 acres could be opened up by the project. He anticipates about 8 acres of that area would be dedicated for green space, such as restoring Franklin Square, a park that was cut nearly in half by the Inner Loop’s construction, and adding room for a playground and ball fields at World of Inquiry School, which currently has no green space.
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