TOWN OF TONAWANDA, N.Y. — Upcoming construction on the 290 has some Tonawanda residents seeing red.
According to the New York State Department of Transportation, the $6.7 million project will replace an aging bridge near the intersection of the I-290 and Colvin Boulevard.
As a result, crews will be shutting down an on-ramp and several lanes of the interstate, which means there'll be much more local traffic.
To help ease the blow, officials held a public meeting Wednesday to answer questions.
While those leaders do sympathize with resident's traffic concerns, they add that the project will ultimately save lives.
"These bridges were built in, I believe, 1965. And they have approximately a 50-year useful service life, so we're beyond that now. The new bridge will give us a lifespan of 75 years,” said Susan Surdej of NYSDOT.
Construction will start on April 2 and run until fall 2019.