It also created processing opportunities in the mid-west. Buffalo's grain and flour economy slowly died because of these, at the time, new infrastructure and transport improvements. With the closing of Bethlehem Steel in the early 1970s, the western New York economy slowly deflated to its present levels. Yes, changes in infrastructure and transportation practices do have major impacts on trade flows. We are not against change in Cattaraugus County.
Populations move around.
Governments build infrastructure to accommodate these changes. Today, newly emerging trade flows are once again beginning to favor Buffalo, Erie County, and Cattaraugus County. We therefore need to finish the Route 219 interstate infrastructure so as to reinforce positively this newly emerging trade pattern. We need this for our region's economic viability in the twenty-first century. This highway improvement has been requested by the western New York business and political communities for more than forty years, ever since the interstate highway system was started in the 1950's.