BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Newly released plans for the Kensington Expressway project detail many specifics about the timeline, the final design for the roadway, and how the project will impact the environment.

The nearly 350-page report also includes the SEQR environmental review as well as specific details on what will be renovated.

It has been a long time coming for many residents who live along the 33. The nearly billion dollar project could break ground just over a year from now, and construction is expected to be complete by the end of the decade.

“It was like a pipe dream. I remember going to the first meeting thinking who’s going to give up all this money, no one is going to give up all this money,” Buffalo Common Council President Darius Pridgen said. “Now really saying we are going to pull this money together, now here’s your time, here’s your voice, here’s your choice.”

After more than a decade of discussion, negotiation and planning, a draft plan to restore part of the Humboldt Parkway was released. It includes partially covering the 33 from Dodge St. to Sidney St., creating a park above that, and expanding the best street intersection to include multiple roundabouts to relieve traffic there.

This has been a dream come true for Stephanie Barber-Geter, the chairperson for the Restore Our Community Coalition. She’s been credited as a driving force to reunite the community divided by the 33.

“We’re going to open up a few streets that have been closed off for a while,” Barber-Geter said. “What we proposed to do at the Best Street interchange. I think people will be interested in what the air quality study will tell us, what the water quality study will tell us.”

According to Barber-Geter, the plan also includes redoing about 50 blocks around the parkway, eliminating vacant lots and renovating homes. Barber-Geter hopes to learn more about the air quality study and make sure the information is spread throughout the community. She is also pushing for direct communication between home owners in the area and the construction crews when they work on each block.

The plan is now up for public review and comment, which both Pridgen and Barber-Geter, say is critical.

“The day where I can get in my car and drive from this part to the next part, the day where I can look out and see the tree lined parkway — to me that will be the day worthy of a world class party,” Barber-Geter concluded.

There will be a morning and afternoon public hearing on this project scheduled on Sept. 27 at the Buffalo Museum of Science on Best St.