Inner Loop: How A Highway Can Change the Identity of a City

Inner Loop: How A Highway Can Change the Identity of a City

By AJ Bonacci

HENRIETTA, N.Y. – The planned removal of key highways in Rochester hopes to reconnect inner-city communities after decades of separation.

“It's come a long way in a relatively short time,” said Erik Frisch, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Neighborhood and Business Development.

The City of Rochester is in the process of removing decades-old infrastructure in one of the most comprehensive highway removal projects in the United States. This is all part of an attempt to infuse new life economically into the downtown area while also reconnecting neighborhoods decimated by mid-century districting policies. Rochester is not alone, in 2023 The Biden administration announced $185 million for 45 different projects as part of the larger $1 billion Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Grant Program.

ROCHESTER, NY – FEBRUARY 15: A cop car drives along Inner Loop North in the snow.

“I can remember being engaged in constant conversations with the Federal Highway Administration, New York State, Monroe County, and the city,” Frisch said. “And you know, ultimately our goal was to deliver this project.”

While the Inner Loop has become a symbol for mid-century infrastructure in Rochester it was never originally the city’s idea to construct it. According to Emily Morry, city library assistant, “This was an idea that came from New York State. When the state announced plans for the New York State Thruway they also envisioned a series of what they called arterial roots, which were roads that were designed to meet local traffic needs in the various cities.”

Now, almost 60 years later the State is contributing funding to the teardown of these highways.

“Over time, the loop just wasn't used to the extent that the city was hoping for. And then, you know, it had an immediate, devastating effect on the landscape of Rochester. It required the destruction of between 400-500 buildings, from single-family homes to apartment buildings, businesses, and churches” said Morry. “It created both a literal and figurative loss of connection and also resulted in the loss of the residential character in the affected areas.”

ROCHESTER, NY – FEBRUARY 15: Cook Iron Store a business along Inner Loop North.

The idea to renovate sections of this highway is not a new one. In 1991 the city completed the Vision 2000 Plan: A Plan for Downtown. This project was intended to reconnect the city center to other neighborhoods and the southeastern portion of the loop would have been torn down.

According to Frisch, “The idea, then, was to bring it up to grade, but not significantly downsize it. Keep it in the path where you'd come off the loop, and you'd be funneled onto a relatively large road, and then back onto the highway again.”

The actual Inner Loop East project ended up being much larger in scale than the original plan drawn up in the 90s. Between 2014-2017 the entire eastern section of the loop was removed and replaced with Union Street with about six acres of land being reclaimed for mixed-use development.

The project has seen a lot of success since its completion. “It has leveraged over 250 million dollars of redevelopment with 10 to one private investment to infrastructure spending and has created over 500 housing units,” said Frisch. “About two-thirds of which are affordable to incomes at or below 80% area Median income. So contrary to popular opinion, although they're certainly modern buildings, the majority of the units are affordable.”

According to data collected by the city from 2014-2022, bike traffic increased by 87.7%, and pedestrian traffic increased by 4.4%. It is important to note that the pandemic affected these statistics as there was a 57% decrease in pedestrian traffic between 2019 and 2020.

ROCHESTER, NY – FEBRUARY 22: A rainy day on North Union Street where Inner Loop East once stood.

After the success of the Inner Loop East project the city began to think about redeveloping the northern section of the loop. However, Inner Loop North is a longer stretch of highway that services higher traffic volumes than the eastern section ever did. Despite the challenges, there was a clear sentiment in the Rochester community that the northern section of the loop should also be redeveloped.

“The sentiment is in favor of it. I think there's just a strong interest in making sure that it's done right, that it's done in a way that is appropriate to the context of the neighborhoods” said city transportation specialist David Riley. “They want to see a focus on affordable homeownership opportunities since the housing that was developed on Inner Loop East was rental housing.”

After completing a planning study for the project in 2022 and receiving $100 million in funding from the state under Governor Hochul, the project is now in the engineering design phase. This is when exact details like the placement of roads and intersections will be determined and how it will integrate with areas like the Genesee Riverway Trail.

ROCHESTER, NY – FEBRUARY 15: A cop car drives along Inner Loop North in the snow.

“We are just about to hold our first public meeting of this phase in March, so we're kind of moving in earnest into the next big phase of public engagement,” said Riley. “So we're thinking that design is gonna probably take us through 2026 and then we hope to bid the project that year and get started on construction in 2027.”

Throughout this process, the communities surrounding the Inner Loop have made sure their voices are being heard because they are the ones most directly impacted by these decisions.

One of the ways the community has used its voice is by establishing non-profit organizations like Hinge Neighbors Inc. “We were founded to make sure that people on both sides of the Inner Loop would have their voices heard about what should go in the Inner Loop and how it should be done. We didn’t think anyone else would ask unless we got our own organization going” said President of Hinge Suzanne Mayer.

“When you talk about planned communities, this was planning to break up a community,” Mayer said on the original construction of the Inner Loop.

Meyer runs this organization with Shawn Dunwoody, another Rochester local who has also been advocating for community input in these projects. They have been in direct contact with city officials like Riley to discuss what they want to see for the future of the area.

ROCHESTER, NY – FEBRUARY 22: One of the neighborhoods along the Inner Loop.

“You need to honor those who have stayed in the area,” said Mayer. “If you want to increase the value of your real estate gentrification will probably happen, but you don’t want to have displacement, so it’s about keeping people in the neighborhood who want to be in the neighborhood.”

The history of Rochester is long and complex and there are many things to consider when you are doing such large-scale infrastructure projects. The failures of mid-century policies are now trying to be rectified but it will be a long and complicated process. Both Inner Loop projects serve as stepping stones for the city to help its community by improving the living conditions for all its residents.

According to Mayer, the most important lesson the city should learn from the past is “don’t replace a moat with a wall.”