The Buffalo Healthy Communities Initiative

The Buffalo Healthy Communities Initiative focuses on developing and improving the neglected infrastructure in the Allentown and Fruitbelt neighborhoods and reconnecting them to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC). The Federal government recently awarded two million dollars to the Healthy Communities Initiative (HCI), the Active Living by Design community partnership in Buffalo, to make the streets more pedestrian friendly and supportive of active living. The streetscape and infrastructure enhancement grant will add bike lanes, bike racks, wide sidewalks, enhanced street lighting, highly-visible ADA-compliant crosswalks, and street furniture to the public right of way on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. These vital improvements will reinforce and improve the physical connections between the medical campus and the surrounding Fruit Belt and Allentown neighborhoods.

The goal of this project is to make the streets more pedestrian friendly and supportive of active living.

Recent accomplishments include the following:

- Sponsored the Active Living Road Show, walkability audits, and community workshops in Allentown and Fruitbelt neighborhoods. Also, crosswalk striping and pedestrian signals were installed, and streets and sidewalks were repaved in Fruitbelt and Allentown.
- Completed an inventory of key policy makers and an assessment of institutional policies, and completed a physical infrastructure and assessment report.
- Incorporated active living into the mission and vision of Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
- Received $13 million in funding through federal transportation programs for physical infrastructure improvements.
- Launched Buffalo Blue Bicycles community bike share program and implemented Walking on Wednesdays (WOW), a BNMC walking group.
- Drafted legislation, which was adopted by the city council, for the creation of a bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee. Drafted bicycle parking ordinances, which were passed by the city council.