Of skies and the ways that cross them

I was interested by this Buffalo News article, which ran on the paper's front page, about the growing volume of the chorus of voices in Buffalo who think that the Skyway should be torn down, under the assumption that it's a major impediment to development on the waterfront.

Personally, I'm with them all the way: the thing is a giant ugly gray concrete dinosaur whose purpose can be perfectly served by ground-level streets and bridges. This thing just looms over the waterfront, casting large swaths of it in shadow for much of the day. For those not from Buffalo, the Skyway is a giant four-lane bridge that rises to one hundred feet in the air as New York Route 5 arrives at downtown Buffalo. Route 5 hugs the shore of Lake Erie, which means that the Skyway literally sits above the waterfront. Ugh.

And man, is our state government a bunch of nitwits -- they don't have to look at the Skyway every day, so they don't have to give creedence to the local notion that maybe getting rid of it's a good idea.

Get the damn thing out of here. I'm not sure if it was ever a good idea, but assuming it was, its time is past.

(Although, I have to admit that I do really enjoy the drive into Buffalo over the Skyway. It makes the city look really cool, especially on that one last rise when it feels like you're flying. But that's nowhere near a good enough reason to keep it up.)