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Rochester and Buffalo Sisters From Space

leets

By leets
in New York State

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leets Whistle-Stop

leets

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Here are satelite images of these sister cities at the same scale. Buffalo and Rochester just over 1 hour drive apart in Western New York_they are some times indifferent to each other, some times competitive, and all to few times cooperative in fighting the evil State of New York government.

ROCHESTER

rochestersatelite2pc.jpg

BUFFALO

buffalosatelite4ti.jpg

(Images by Keyhole)

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leets Whistle-Stop

leets

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I would imagine that it is detrimental to the downtown area. This type of beltway was a popular planning idea back in the 60's and 50's. The concept was to have the loop separate the business district from the neighborhoods (because back then they did not like the messiness of the city) Cars would go directly from the highway to a parking garage and people would walk to their offices therby reducing the traffic. Needless to say the idea was stupid and many cities suffer from the reality of it.

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leets Whistle-Stop

leets

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Great pictures! Where did you get them from?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You can get then through Google's Keyhole map service. They have a free trial if you search around for it. You can fly into any city at high resolution. They also have a similar feature at Maps.google.com but it gives you less control.

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jackson Unincorporated Area

jackson

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What an odd, mini-beltway around downtown Rochester.... Does that cut the downtown off from the rest of the city drastically?

the answer is yes. there is little activity downtown after business hours. Rochester used to be the smallest city to have a subway system before it was abandoned in 1957. If they used those rail lines instead of the highways, rochester would be a lot better today.

The highway that loops around downtown is the governments way of destroying cities. I don't think that the people who designed this were totally innocent, because you would have to know that building a highway around a downtown would destroy a city. Especialy if you are a professional at designing such a thing. So I think the whole thing was pretty evil if you ask me.

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Recchia Town

Recchia

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the answer is yes. there is little activity downtown after business hours. Rochester used to be the smallest city to have a subway system before it was abandoned in 1957. If they used those rail lines instead of the highways, rochester would be a lot better today.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Rochester has a subway?? Please tell...

I bet in todays age of light rail mania they'll be looking to re-instate that system if the infrastructure is still there.

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jazzmaphone Crossroads

jazzmaphone

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Rochester has a subway??  Please tell...

I bet in todays age of light rail mania they'll be looking to re-instate that system if the infrastructure is still there.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually, funny you bring it up, but the city of rochester may be filling in the subway tunnel. It was only underground through the downtown area, where it goes under a bridge on top of the genessee river. I believe it was a one line, east-west transit line.

The group that is trying to keep it from being filled in is Chill the Fill

---

Regarding the "Inner Loop" -- yeah it's convenient for driving, but it does have the effect of cutting off the fabric of storefronts and other street life. Who wants to walk over a highway to get to a bar? Even if it's just 100 feet, the feeling of being exposed in the open, with speeding cars below you, is not comfortable for walking.

-Ben M

Transitions{sodEmoji.|}Rochester NY

www.TransitionsRoc.com

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jackson Unincorporated Area

jackson

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rsb_proposed_map.gif

this shows the subway in 1955. It was a very successful system, but failed due to political reasons, it being a city-run company and not being able to expand to other municipalities surrounding the city.

They're gonna fill this in? Too bad. I think that the policies of most cities in the northeast are highly self-destructive.

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Recchia Town

Recchia

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I'm really shocked that they would want to fill this in. Most cities nowadays are desperately trying to bring back the pre-automobile public transportation systems that once existed in their cities, and others are struggling with developing ROW's for new light rail systems. Here you have one already laid out that you could bring back to life, and they want to destroy it?

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psycuda Hamlet

psycuda

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Rochester is a great little city -- there are great cultural institutions and nice livable areas. I have always loved the downtown -- midtown mall was a favorite haunt:

msc059.JPG

Too bad that the ULI recommended that Midtown be torn down, along with he skywalk system in downtown. It's going to be missed (Midtown, not the skywalks)Rochester Skywalk System

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psycuda Hamlet

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I'm outta the loop -- what's ULI?

Is the destruction of Midtown a done deal?

The urban Land Institute, a think tank out of Washington DC that was hired by the City to look at downtown improvements. These results came out of the preliminary findings, but the final results should come out in the next month or so.

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