U.S. 62, which is Main Street in Hamburg, N.Y., was rebuilt to slow traffic and aid pedestrians. The changes have inspired business investment and civic activity.
By DENNIS GAFFNEY/NEW YORK TIMES
Published: August 16, 2013
HAMBURG, N.Y. — How did this Rust Belt village of 10,000 people resurrect itself from a 30-year slide? It started with a road.
Twelve years ago, the State Transportation Department proposed improving U.S. Route 62, the village’s mile-long Main Street, by adding another traffic lane, removing parallel parking and narrowing sidewalks. When Susan Burns, a lifelong Hamburg resident, saw the plan, she remembers asking, “What are you doing with the trees and the people?” She said she was told by state officials, “We have to get the traffic through.”
Ms. Burns feared that the road expansion might be the fatal blow to the village, just south of Buffalo, which was already knocked down by the collapse of the area’s steel industry and the opening of a nearby mall. The village that many had once compared to the idyllic Bedford Falls in the 1940s movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” worried that it was sliding toward Pottersville, or worse yet, a ghost town.
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Indian River Guardian 
This is common sense. We did not need the twin pairs after I-95 was connected south. The roundabout idea will work.
Vero will get the lift it needs and return us to the Old Style “town” we were prior to the 70’s, so why not give it a try?
There’s no drugstore, no bank, no Wodtke’s, no Loy’s, no DuBose, no Anthony’s, no grocery other than convenience, a theater that is awaiting what? A parking garage for the cars? We do have a nice park, Community Center and Heritage Center. There are a good selection of restaurants and fantastic art galleries. Fine art and food – that’s a pretty good combo, I suppose. I’m sure we’d all get used to roundabouts eventually. If not, we’d just avoid the area. I love downtown and want to see it succeed. A radio person wondered why the new condos on Royal Palm Pointe didn’t have businesses on the first floor. He was told by the builder that this was not permitted by county/city – whoever. I know we have apartments on the 2nd floors of downtown buildings already. My point, if there is one, is 1) nearby parking is a must –we have people who complain if they have to walk two blocks 2) how can we attract those store-types not currently in the downtown area? It sounds great, though I can’t see a one-size-fits-all solution.