BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Major changes are happening along the Scajaquada just days after a driver veered off the highway, running down a mother and her two children. The three-year-old boy died. His five-year-old sister is in critical condition.

The speed limit for the 198 is now 30 miles per hour. There are guardrails separating the expressway from the park. Even though nothing like Saturday's accident has ever happened before, the Parkside community has been pushing for years to get these changes to make the area safer.

The question remains: Why wasn't anything done to make the Scajaquada Expressway near Delaware Park safer by putting up a guardrail or reducing the speed limit on the highway?

"The city, on its own, could not have reduced the speed limit," said Mayor Byron Brown, D-Buffalo. "A lot of discussion over several decades; hasn't happened for one reason or another. I'm very pleased now that the governor has taken swift action in the aftermath of this tragedy to make sure that nothing like this happens again.”

Those changes are now in effect after Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday ordered the speed limit be dropped from 50 miles per hour to 30. Officials aren't worried about traffic backups on Route 33 or Interstate 190, the expressways that feed into the 198.

"There's already been a lot of studies done on that as the new design is being prepared and looked at by DOT. We know that there's going to be some traffic adjustments, but as far as major concerns, no,” said Steve Stepniak, the Buffalo DPW Commissioner.

The speed limit was 40 mph when the expressway was put in in 1958. At some point, it was raised to 50 mph.

"The park was actually built in 1868 and this parkway went in place in the 1950s, so when people ask, how could you build Ring Road so close to the 198, it's actually the opposite. We're going to do everything we can with the city and state to remedy this,” said Stephanie Crockatt, the Olmstead Parks Conservancy Executive Director.

Five-hundred feet of concrete barriers were being put up Monday to separate the 198 from Delaware Park.

"They get pinned together. They become one structure. You pin those with a heavy pin. They're used in other areas throughout the thruways and the DOT roadways. They'll be a safe mechanism," said Stepniak.

At this point, these changes will be in effect for the foreseeable future until a more permanent solution can be found.

"We have a cooperative effort from the county and DOT to help lend equipment to each other to get this task accomplished. Some state folks just went through. They're doing their preliminary layout for their permanent guardrail. After DOT calls dig safely, we assume they will start their work in the next few days. That may take a week for that process," said Stepniak.

Brown added, "We're hoping that the speed limit will be permanent, potentially not permanent through the entire Scajaquada Expressway but certainly we'd like to see it permanent as the Scajaquada goes through Delaware Park."

While cars often come off the expressway in snowy conditions, authorities say to their knowledge Saturday was the first time in ideal conditions a car has every veered off the highway and ended up in the bike path.

Police sources tell us the driver told them he fell asleep. Police have not confirmed that information and are not saying what caused the driver to leave the expressway and drive into the park, citing an ongoing investigation. The accident reconstruction investigation could take several weeks to be completed.

We do know the driver has been cooperating and was released without charges. His name has not been released.