A portion of Park Road, from Richmond Avenue south to the intersection of Lewiston Road/Route 63, will be closed to all traffic on Oct. 21.

This is to accommodate the completion of specialty pavement treatments. This work will occur between the hours of 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. The work is weather dependent. If work is postponed due to inclement weather, it will be rescheduled for the next business day.

Batavia Downs traffic is asked to enter and exit the facility parking area from the north end of Park Road near Richmond Avenue. Signage will direct Batavia Downs customers and staff to the parking areas.

For traffic needing to access Park Road approaching from Lewiston Road/Route 63, you are asked to follow the Park Rd Detour utilizing Veterans Memorial Drive.

For traffic needing to access Lewiston Road/Route 63 approaching from Oak Street/Route 98 and NYS Thruway, you asked to follow the Route 63 Detour utilizing Veterans Memorial Drive.

Park Road traffic from Oak Street/Route 98 to Richmond Avenue will not be impacted by this closure. 

Press Release

To all motorists, businesses, and property owners along Park Road in the Town of Batavia:
The portion of Park Road from Richmond Avenue South to the intersection of Lewiston Road/ NY63 will
be reopened to southbound traffic only.

Motorists approaching Park Road from Lewiston Road/ NY 63 are asked to continue to follow the detour along Veterans Memorial Drive to Park Road. This will occur on or about 5 p.m. Friday. This pattern will remain for the next few weeks while work continues to finish the project.

To all motorists, businesses, and property owners along Park Road in the City and Town of Batavia:

The Park Road Improvement project continues to progress.

Milling and Paving operations will occur on Thursday, September 1, 2022. This work will be focused on the portion of Park Road between Veterans Memorial Drive and Oak Street/ NYS Rt 98. Traffic will be reduced to one lane of alternating traffic. Expect delays. Motorist are asked to seek alternate routes if possible.

Final course paving will occur on Friday, September 2, 2022. This work will be focused on the portion of Park Road between Veterans Memorial Drive and Oak Street/ NYS Rt 98 & Park Road between Richmond Avenue and Veterans Memorial Drive. Traffic will be reduced to one lane alternating traffic.

Expect delays. Motorist are asked to seek alternate routes if possible.

Park Road between Lewiston Road/ NYS Rt 63 and Richmond Avenue remains closed in preparation of final paving course. Date to be determined.

Batavia Downs traffic is asked to enter and exit the facility parking area from the north end of Park Road near Richmond Avenue. Signage will direct Batavia Downs customers and staff to the parking areas.

For traffic needing to access Park Road approaching from Lewiston Road/ NYS Route 63, you are asked to follow the Park Rd Detour utilizing Veterans Memorial Drive.

For traffic needing to access Lewiston Road/ NYS Route 63 approaching from Oak Street/ NYS Route 98 and NYS Thruway, you asked to follow the Route 63 Detour utilizing Veterans Memorial Drive.

All through traffic is asked to avoid Park Road if possible and seek alternate routes.

Please be advised that beginning on Tuesday, July 12, 2022 those wishing to visit Batavia Downs who arrive by heading south on Park Road will enter our parking lot via Batavia Downs Trail, the small road located just past Alex’s place.  Traffic leaving the parking lot must also exit at that location.

Also beginning on Tuesday, July 12, traffic on Park Road, North of Batavia Downs, will go back to two way traffic.

In order to expedite the completion of the Park Road Project, Park Road will be closed from this new Batavia Downs Parking Lot entrance all the way to the south to Lewiston Road for the immediate future while the road is being worked on. They expect completion on this part of the project by late August.

Those wishing to access the free valet parking must do so by entering into the main lot and following signs directing them to the area near the crosswalk near Batavia Downs’ front entrance.  The valet will be located near the red square on the attached map.  Valet parking will not be accessible from the former K-Mart Parking lot.

Press release:

The Park Road Improvement project continues to progress. Utility work is nearly complete. The project will be focusing on roadway reconstruction activities including excavation and removal of the existing roadbed, curb work, street lighting, sidewalks and paving.

To expedite this work, the portion of Park Road between Lewiston Road to Richmond Avenue will be closed to all through traffic beginning Tuesday, July 12, 2022 and will remain closed until the Labor Day holiday.

The portion of Park Road from Richmond Avenue to Veterans Memorial Drive will revert from one-way traffic back to two-way traffic. Daily work zones with reductions to a single-lane traffic are to be expected.

Batavia Downs traffic is asked to enter and exit the facility parking area from the north end of Park Road near Richmond Avenue. Signage will direct Batavia Downs customers and staff to the parking areas.

For traffic needing to access Park Road approaching from Lewiston Road/ NYS Route 63, you are asked to follow the Park Rd Detour utilizing Veterans Memorial Drive.

For traffic needing to access Lewiston Road/ NYS Route 63 approaching from Oak Street/ NYS Route 98 and NYS Thruway, you asked to follow the Route 63 Detour utilizing Veterans Memorial Drive.

All through traffic is asked to avoid Park Road if possible and seek alternate routes. 

“While nothing is finalized, we are receptive to the horsemen’s request to having racing here during those two months after learning that Buffalo Raceway (in Hamburg) is not planning to be open then,” WROTB President Henry Wojtaszek said. “We want to work with them as long as they will reimburse us for the expense to operate then.”

Wojtaszek informed the public benefit company’s board of directors that the WNYHHA is willing to foot the bill to race in those months in order to give its members a chance to make a living.

Normally, Buffalo Raceway is open from January through mid-July and Batavia Downs runs from mid-July through mid-December, with racing scheduled two or three nights per week.

“Buffalo is not a well-maintained facility at this point,” Wojtaszek said, adding that Batavia’s track is able to handle the additional racing. He estimated that it would cost around $300,000 for the proposed racing dates in the first two months of next year.

He said a decision is expected later this month or in July.

Racing returns to Batavia Downs on July 20 and, currently, is set to run through Dec. 17.

A call to Bruce Tubin, WNYHHA president, was not returned at the time of the posting of this story.

In other developments, Wojtaszek reported the following:

• WROTB will pay half of the $75,000 cost of new rubber rolled matting for the harness horse stalls, with the WNYHHA taking care of the other half.

The material – 28 sheets of rubber matting, 4 feet wide and 200 feet long – is being purchased from RubberForm Recycled Products LLC of Lockport, the low bidder.

• WROTB will pay $30,000 to Benderson Development LLC of Buffalo to use the former Kmart lot for additional parking from June 1 through Aug. 31. Wojtaszek said a portion of the lot will be fenced off when construction of the new Starbucks along Route 63 begins.

Starbucks and another retail restaurant will be built on the parking lot in the coming months.

Starting March 21st through the fall of 2022, a contractor for the Town of Batavia, CATCO, will be installing new utilities, reconstructing, and resurfacing Park Road from the intersection of NYS Route 63 to NYS Route 98.

To complete this project, the following changes will be implemented during construction:

For this project Park Road, northbound traffic will be detoured onto Veterans Memorial Drive, and Park Road southbound traffic will remain on Park Road. This means only a single lane of traffic will be established for southbound travel. The timeline for completion is November 2022.

We ask that you bear with us during construction and consider making changes to your daily commute or plans to visit any establishments along Park Road since traffic will be restricted during construction. Alex’s, Tops Plaza rear entrance, and Batavia Downs will remain accessible only while traveling southbound. See attached Traffic Flow Map. Construction updates on this project, in addition to other Town of Batavia projects, can be found here: www.townofbatavia.com 

During Saturday's Night of Champions at Batavia Downs, Western OTB President/CEO Henry Wojtaszek talked about the speed humps installed the day before on Park Road outside of the casino.

Members of the Batavia City Council are ready to raise a ruckus about a proposal for the Town of Batavia to sell a portion of Park Road to Batavia Downs, leading to a closure of the road to thru traffic.

About a dozen Redfield Parkway residents attended Tuesday's council meeting to express their concern about the potential for increased traffic on their residential street if Park Road is closed.

"Redfield will become the new Park Road," is the battle cry.

But that won't necessarily be the case, said Mike Nolan, COO of Western OTB. A traffic study commissioned by Batavia Downs indicates there will be minimal impact on city streets, Nolan said.

"We've been working on this for a year," Nolan said. "We've met with all the stakeholders, the business owners on Park Road, the Sheriff's Office, the fire department and we're trying to mitigate the impact in every way. This wasn't just something thought up a month ago."

City Manager Jason Molino worried that the traffic study doesn't really address the impacts on parallel streets, such as Redfield, Bogue, Union, all the way down to Oak Street.

A couple of weeks ago, Park Road was closed on an emergency basis because of construction work related to the new hotel at Batavia Downs and traffic backed up on Redfield. 

Nelson Baker (top photo) and other speakers expressed concern that the congestion represents Redfield's future if Park is closed.

Maybe, maybe not, Molino said.

"Obviously, people are concerned with that closure that is going to be the type of traffic congestion that could take place," Molino said. "That has some merit to it. On the flip side, it was an emergency and that is going to cause traffic to congest because nobody has time to plan on getting around it. If the closure is well known ahead of time, then people have time to plan. With one incident, it's hard to judge, but it certainly raises awareness and puts focus on it."

That congestion was a one-time event and the traffic study indicates people will find alternatives, more sensible routes, if Park is permanently closed, Nolan said.

The main issue for Batavia Downs, Nolan said, is one of pedestrian safety.

When the racetrack was first built in 1940, the kind of high-volume entertainment center Batavia Downs has become wasn't envisioned, so building it right on Park Road wasn't an issue.

Last year, more than a million people visited Batavia Downs, creating two million pedestrian crossings on Park Road, and Batavia Downs is just going to continue to grow, Nolan said. 

"This is all about trying to solve a big problem, and that's public safety," Nolan said. "That is what the town and Batavia Downs are addressing."

The City Council will take up the issue at its next conference meeting to discuss drafting a letter to the Town Board opposing the plan and maybe directing a council member to personally carrying the city's concerns to the town.

The decision is entirely within the hands of the Town of Batavia. All the city can do is share concern and monitor the issue.

"We as a city are going to be affected and we don't have a say in this, so I would encourage everybody in the city to speak out to the town as well," said Councilman John Canale. "I'm not sure how much of an effect that is going to have on the decision, but it's frustrating because it's going to have a negative effect on city streets."