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Michigan Avenue Bridge to close for 4 months, businesses frustrated by short notice

“Summer is really our bread and butter that we rely on and so finding out we had a three-day notice and it’s going to be closed for the entire busy season was pretty devastating.”
Posted at 5:32 PM, May 23, 2023
and last updated 2023-05-24 14:22:51-04

UPDATE: In a release on Wednesday the city said it coordinated with the businesses in the area to pause the closure until after Memorial Day weekend. You can find more information here.

The Michigan Avenue Bridge will be closed again while business owners are scrambling to find ways to combat the potential impact of the closure.

The owner of Wonder Coffeehouse, Kate Vacanti, tells 7 News reporter Yoselin Person it’s frustrating to have the city closing the bridge at a time when businesses like hers are depending heavily on the money coming in.

“Summer is really our bread and butter that we rely on,” she says. “And so finding out we had a three-day notice and it’s going to be closed for the entire busy season was pretty devastating."

While businesses were only given a three-day notice, the Buffalo Riverworks is facing a challenge since there’s a big event happening this weekend.

“When we do events of five or ten thousand people there’s going to be a major log jam in the street, and cars are going to be unable to do U-turns,” says CEO Bill Casale of Buffalo Riverworks.

With the bridge off-limits, people will have to come over the Ohio Street lift bridge to Ganson Street.

“So that’s going to have a dramatic effect on walking traffic at festivals throughout the summer,” says Casale. “People wouldn’t want to walk two miles to go anywhere especially a festival on an island.”

These owners say the closure is also inconvenient for workers and customers who may not have a car.

“It’s pretty rough it’s not overly safe on the sidewalks, and there are potholes everywhere,” Kate Vacanti of Wonder Coffeehouse says. “It’s not a simple just going around so I’m concerned about that.”

A City of Buffalo spokesperson says:

"This is the last scheduled maintenance work of the bridge and it’ll take four months to complete."

“We understand that repairs are necessary and to be,” says Bill Casale of Buffalo Riverworks. “But all we ask for is transparency and a little bit more communication.”

The bridge will close on Thursday.