Nearly 80 residents and business owners got their first look at the plans to improve a busy stretch of Mt. Hope Avenue during an informational meeting Thursday night. The project’s goal is to ease the traffic flow and cut down the number of accidents.

Plans include a total rebuild of less than a half mile of roadway along Mt. Hope along with resurfacing portions of Crittenden Boulevard and Elmwood Avenue.

"We're keeping the same number of lanes, but we're adding a center median which will help control traffic and keep traffic from making left turns into and out of the businesses," explained Paul Way, the project manager for the city of Rochester.

U-turns will be allowed at intersections making businesses accessible from both directions. Project officials say that stretch of Mt. Hope between Crittenden and Elmwood has more accidents than any other roadway in Monroe County.

"It's kind of exciting for us,” said Mt. Hope neighborhood resident Mary Tyndall. “Because things need to change and I guess what direction we go will be a good thing to do."

Some business owners say the planned improvements have been needed for quite some time. When the project is completed, they believe it will increase their business flow.

"Ultimately bring more traffic into the area, more foot traffic and slow down some of the traffic on mount hope,” said Pat Benfante, owner of Benfante Appliance Service. “So I think ultimately it's a plus."

Another phase of the project is part of the University of Rochester's master plan. It calls for the construction of a collegetown on the former site of the Mt. Hope Wegmans.

Plans are not nearly as far along as the road reconstruction project. The U of R is just now reviewing responses to its request for qualifications from various developers.

"Sometime this spring we hope to be in a position to issue a request for proposal,” said the U of R’s Richard Pifer. “Once those proposals are returned we'd then evaluate those and hopefully be in a position to move forward and select a developer. Once a developer is selected then we'd be in a position to think about a schedule and involve the local community."

Even though the university has no set timetable to begin work on the collegetown, city officials say Mt. Hope Avenue reconstruction should begin this summer.

Upper Mt. Hope Neighbors
City of Rochester