Google Maps updated their view of Rochester 
this week. Notice anything different? Let’s zoom in on that visual a bit…
Posts Tagged ‘I-490’...
See Ya Later Inner Loop. Hello, Inner Horseshoe?
Thursday, December 11th, 2014Tags: downtown Rochester, Google, Google Maps, I-490, Inner Horseshoe, Inner Loop, Inner Loop East Reconstruction Project, maps, Rochester, Rochester NY
Posted in Opinion, Rochester Images, Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure, Urban Development | 22 Comments »
ROC City Skatepark Has New Location(s)
Thursday, December 26th, 2013![The Roc City Skatepark was planned to be built under the I-490 Freddie-Sue Bridge. [PHOTO: RocCitySkatepark.org]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/roc-city-skatepark.jpg)
Roc City Skatepark, originally planned to be built under the interstate 490 Frederick Douglass–Susan B. Anthony Memorial Bridge, now has a new location… maybe even several new locationS…
Tags: downtown Rochester, Freddie-Sue Bridge, Frederick Douglass–Susan B. Anthony Memorial Bridge, Genesee Crossroads Park, I-490, Jim Maddison, park, Roc City Skatepark, Rochester, Rochester NY, urban development
Posted in Rochester News, Urban Development | 8 Comments »
Filling In: Old Sherwood Shoe Company Site
Tuesday, August 20th, 2013![A view of the Rochester Subway looking east from the Meigs Street bridge. A westbound car is shown approaching the Goodman-Meigs station. The Sherwood Shoe Company building on Goodman Street and Uhlen Place is seen in the right background. [PHOTO: Rochester Municipal Archives]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-subway-and-sherwood-shoe-company-1956.jpg)
The following is a guest post submitted by Matthew Denker.
Submit your story today.
One of the sites that the city has, let’s say aspirationally, earmarked for development is the site of the former Sherwood Shoe Company. The shoe company itself was incorporated in 1905 by Frederick A. Sherwood, and the factory for it was built on this site at roughly the same time. I’m less sure when it was torn down, but it is on the 1935 plat maps, so it was certainly there through the depression. (UPDATE: the photo above is from 1956)
As for what to do here, I think there are a million great ideas, and I am hoping that we are able to get a good conversation of the various uses: lofts where the factory used to be? More houses? All of these things and more? All great ideas, and I’m not one to come to the table empty handed, so let’s take a look at what I think should go here.
Tags: cargo container architecture, City of Rochester, development plans, Filling In, Goodman Street, I-490, Matthew Denker, Rochester, Rochester NY, Sherwood Shoe Company, South Clinton Avenue, Tumbleweed Homes, Uhlen Place, vacant lot
Posted in Opinion, Reader Submitted Stories, Urban Development | 17 Comments »
The Man Behind ‘Spaceman’
Monday, December 10th, 2012
Recently I asked, “Who is Spaceman?” This guy’s work has been showing up in unexpected places around town for a while now. Although I’m still not sure who the guy in the space suit is, the actual artist did come forward. And I had a chance to sit down with him at Boulder Coffee in the South Wedge. Among other things I asked him what he thought about people who call his work “trashy” or “criminal.” With the Geico Gecko watching us from the billboard across the street, he pointed to it and said, “Would you rather see a Geico ad at every four-way stop? I’m just trying to make people smile.”
For two hours we talked about his work, what motivates him, life in Rochester, keeping our waterways clean, philosophy, Tibetan monks, and other stuff. For obvious reasons he wishes to remain anonymous, so I’ll refer to him in this interview as “Spaceman Artist”. Here’s a taste of our conversation…
Tags: art, artist, Banksy, Can Of Worms interchange, Graffiti, I-490, I-590, public art, Rochester, Rochester NY, Shepard Fairey, streetart, who is Spaceman
Posted in Interviews, Rochester News | 29 Comments »
Who is Spaceman?
Friday, November 30th, 2012
A few months ago this woman caught the attention of motorists on I-490 near downtown Rochester. The image immediately made me think of early works by Banksy or Shepard Fairey , artists who catapulted themselves into pop culture stardom by plastering their towns with often graphic and politically-charged poster art. I wondered, was this Rochester artist making a political/social statement? Or is this half-nude character with the peace sign pasty simply a random piece of visual titillation?
A few people on Facebook claimed to know the artist, but my attempts to track him (or her) down were fruitless. Then yesterday a friend* of mine spotted a similar image stuck to a 490/590 support column at the Can of Worms interchange…
Tags: art, artist, Banksy, Can Of Worms interchange, Clinton Avenue, Graffiti, I-490, I-590, Meigs Street, public art, Rochester, Rochester NY, spaceman, streetart, who is Spaceman
Posted in Rochester Images, Rochester News | 19 Comments »
Rochester, New York Jigsaw Puzzle
Tuesday, July 10th, 2012
I love collecting fun little bits of Rochester history. So a few years ago I bought this Rochester jigsaw puzzle on eBay. Well somehow it slipped behind my sofa and I just recently found it again. It’s like Christmas in July!
Entirely hand drawn, this 513 piece puzzle is jammed with local landmarks, businesses, and fun historic facts. Now I realize I’m a total geek-dork, but I could stare at this thing for days picking stuff out—it’s THAT much fun…
Tags: Cinema Theater, Col. Nathaniel Rochester, Colgate Divinity School, downtown Rochester, Eastman Theater, Ebenezer 'Indian' Allan, Frederick Douglass, George Eastman, German House, High Falls, Hiram Sibley, I-490, Irondequoit, Jonathan Child, Kodak Tower, Liberty Pole, Monroe High School, Punch's Nuts, Rochester, Rochester history, Rochester NY, Rochester Public Market, Sam Patch, Seneca Park Zoo, Silver Stadium, Susan B. Anthony, Toronto, WXXI
Posted in Rochester Destinations, Rochester History | 9 Comments »
Inner Loop Officially ‘Dead Man Walking’
Friday, September 9th, 2011![An aerial view of Rochester on April 25, 1963. On the right is the cleared right-of-way for the final segment of the Inner Loop. [PHOTO: Local History Division, Central Library of Rochester.]](https://www.rochestersubway.com/images/photos/rochester-inner-loop-construction-01.jpg)
It’s no secret that I am wholeheartedly in favor of removing Rochester’s Inner Loop roadway which encircles downtown and chokes it off from the surrounding neighborhoods like an ever tightening noose. What we didn’t know until today was that City Council and Mayor Tom Richards feel the same…
Tags: Carla Palumbo, Carolee Conklin, Democrat & Chronicle, Democrat and Chronicle, downtown Rochester, highway, highways, I-490, infrastructure, Inner Loop, New York, Rochester, Rochester City Council, Rochester NY, transportation, WXXI, Zack Seward
Posted in Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure, Urban Development | 5 Comments »
Think Before You Defend Rochester’s Inner Noose
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
A recent story in the City Newspaper, “Glamming Rochester’s Gateways” 
One letter
(more…)
Tags: Alaskan Way, Buffalo, City Newspaper, downtown Rochester, FDR Drive, highway, highways, I-490, infrastructure, Inner Loop, James R. Boehler, Kensington Expressway, New York, Rochester, Rochester NY, Seattle, transportation
Posted in Opinion, Rochester News, Transit + Infrastructure, Urban Development | 14 Comments »
Road Rage
Thursday, February 25th, 2010In Oregon, a battle raged for nearly twenty years over the construction of a highway project, proposed by the once acclaimed city planner Robert Moses. If approved, the Freeway would have removed more than 1% of all housing stock in Portland. In the mid 1970s, after the proposal’s defeat, the city opted to build a mass transit infrastructure instead. The result can be seen today in the form of a more pedestrian-friendly and livable city.
Tags: BQE, Brooklyn, Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, Clinton Ave, Elmwood Avenue, Goodman Street, highway, I-390, I-490, Mt. Hood Freeway, New York City, Oregon, Portland, Robert Moses, Rochester, Rochester NY, urban planning
Posted in Transit + Infrastructure, Urban Development, Video | 16 Comments »
The Electric Interurban Railways in America
Sunday, January 17th, 2010
Long before hybrid cars, SUV’s, JetBlue, and even Amtrak, travel between American cities occurred largely by rail. With the industrial and technological revolution around the turn of the 20th century, America’s interurban railway developed so fast and connected so many of us, it must have seemed like the future had suddenly arrived out of nowhere. So when Henry Ford’s Model T was introduced who could have anticipated the turn transportation history would soon take.
If you’re interested in understanding the history of rail travel in American (its rise and quick fall), we’ve got a book for you. One of our readers, Laurence Keefe, recently brought this one to our attention. The following is Larry’s review…
“When we were children on summer vacation, the highlight of the day was when Dad got home from work. We would eat dinner at six o’clock, when the news came on the radio. That was because it took him 50 minutes to get from his office near the Four Corners in Rochester, NY to our farm in Victor…
Tags: Alexander Street, Amtrak, automobile, Averill Street, Canandaigua, Clyde, Court Street, Exchange Street, General Motors, George W. Hilton, GM, Great Depression, Henry Ford, hybrid car, I-490, industrial revolution, interurban, JetBlue, John F. Due, Laurence Keefe, mass transit, mass transportation, Model T, New York, New York Central Railroad, NY, public transportation, rail, rail transit, railroad, Rochester, Rochester and Eastern Rapid Railroad, Rochester and Sodus Bay Railway, Rochester Syracuse and Eastern Railroad, SUV, Syracuse, The Electric Interurban Railways in America, train, trains, transportation, vintage postcard, War Memorial
Posted in Opinion, Train/Railroad Stuff, Transit + Infrastructure | No Comments »
Subway Confessions: Pennies & Snowballs
Friday, February 20th, 2009
When I was growing up in the late 1930’s my family lived in the Winton Rd. Merchants Rd. area. One of my fonder memories is walking down Winton to East Avenue with my father and younger brother to catch the subway or trolley. The subway ran through the old Erie Canal bed (where I-490 is now), and would actually get going rather quickly. It would sway back and forth as the Conductor built up speed, and we’d hang on to the straps for dear life…
Tags: bridge, Cobbs Hill Park, conductor, cracked window, East Avenue, German American Sports Club Field, I-490, Lexington Avenue, memory, Merchants Road, Monroe Avenue, Mount Read, overpass, penny on the tracks, Rochester Subway story, Sibley's, snowball, trolley, Winton Road
Posted in Rochester Images, Rochester Subway, Rochester Subway Stories | 1 Comment »
Subway Confessions: Mr. B’s Wild Ride
Monday, February 9th, 2009
The following Subway story was submitted to us by Mr. B from Rochester…
“When I was 7 or 8, I would go to the YMCA on Monroe Avenue or the library next door after school. The Subway used to pass under the Monroe Avenue overpass heading downtown. It must have been in mid june in 1955 or 1956. We were looking out the window at the library and the Trolley was parked or stopped under the overpass…
Tags: asphalt, bridge, East Avenue, I-490, James Vick, memory, Monroe Avenue, overpass, Park Avenue, Rochester Subway story, tracks, trolley, Vick Park A, Vick Park B
Posted in Rochester Images, Rochester Subway, Rochester Subway Stories | 1 Comment »
So… What Will Obama Build?
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
Today was an historic day for America
Tags: bridges, economic stimulus, economy, government spending, green energy, highspeed rail, highway, hydrogen fuel, I-490, infrastructure, light-rail, President Obama, Presidential inauguration, rebuilding America, recovery, roads, train, transportation, utilities
Posted in Opinion, Urban Development | 1 Comment »
Daddy, Tell Me About the Subway.
Saturday, January 10th, 2009I grew up on the south shore of Long Island — about a half-mile walk from a Long Island Railroad station. As a teenager without a car I could leave my sheltered suburban Cape Cod style house, and in less than an hour be smack dab in the center of Manhattan. Not only that, but for just a dollar extra I could reach just about any corner of New York City’s five bouroughs by hopping on a subway car. Can you imagine if New York City had scrapped it’s subway in favor of a highway?!
Tags: automobile, bus, bus-stop, car, city planning, commute, Elmwood Ave, I-490, Long Island Railroad, New York City, Ontario Beach, railroad, Rochester History, sprawl, suburbs, subway, traffic
Posted in Opinion | 6 Comments »
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