(Rochester, N.Y.) – Xerox workers Michelle Defendis and Kristina Batt walk the Skyway every day.
"You want to be able to get to your car and stay dry and not take an umbrella. The Skyway is definitely helpful for that," said Batt.
"We're going to be sad. We use it walk during the afternoons," said Defendis.
The Skyway is a series of indoor overpasses and tunnels on the east side of downtown.
When Midtown Plaza is torn down next year, the Skyway system will be severed in half. Xerox, Bausch and Lomb, Frontier, and the library will be disconnected from Main St., Chase Tower, Sibley Centre, the Riverside Convention Center, the Hyatt, and the Clarion.
"With the Midtown demolition, the Skyway system is going to lose its heart," said Heidi Zimmer-Meyer of the Rochester Downtown Development Corporation.
PAETEC will build its headquarters on the Midtown site, and the city hopes other companies will follow. It remains to be seen if any of them will want to connect to the Skyway. A PAETEC spokesman said it was too early to tell.
"How we rethink the Skyway system is going to be interesting. We're going to have to rethink it," said Zimmer-Meyer. "There are buildings that are very keen to have it restored in some way."
Taxpayers have footed the bill for a big portion of the Skyway. Most recently, City Council approved $4 million in 1993 to pay for a tunnel connecting Bausch and Lomb to Xerox and Midtown. It's not clear if the Midtown garage will be preserved. Bausch and Lomb pays to maintain that portion of the Skyway.
"That's now a tunnel to nowhere and that cost millions of dollars to erect that," said former Mayor William Johnson, who was not in office when that extension was approved. "That’s money that was flushed down the drain if we have to end up shutting down the Skyway system."
Johnson said public money may have to pay for Skyway reconstruction. He’s not sure it’s worth it, as the Skyway has not lead to major downtown redevelopment.
The Urban Land Institute recommended tearing down portions of the Skyway in a 2005 report, saying pedestrians should be encouraged to patronage shops on the street.
Business leaders love the Skyway.
"The fact you can link the major downtown venues to a skyway system is definitely an advantage particularly during Rochester winters," said Rochester Business Alliance CEO Sandy Parker. "If there is any way to make sure it is preserved, it will be helpful in the long run."
"I think the Skyway system on balance has been a huge asset for attracting tenants to downtown towers," said Zimmer-Meyer.
Until there’s a plan for the Midtown site, it’s impossible to say if the system will be reconnected. The city is currently studying the future of the system.
"Hopefully, whatever they do bring in has the same sort of convenience for us," said Batt.
