the lines into the suburbs, including the Amherst campus of the University at Buffalo. Efforts to obtain funding for feeder lines have historically been met with little to no success. Renovations and expansion Although a centerpiece of the original line, the downtown transit mall did not live up to expectations. Because of poor traffic patterns on Main Street, some business groups occasionally called for the removal of the transit system so that they can return to normal vehicle traffic and curbside parking. In 2008, Buffalo began a project to reintroduce cars to Main Street. The project in question involved creating a shared trackbed/roadway with curbside parking, as well as the permanent closure of the Theater Station, which occurred on February 18, 2013. The closure of Theater Station meant that Fountain Plaza Station, located south in the 500 block of Main Street, now serves as the northern terminus of the Free Fare Zone. On January 23, 2015, after less than two years of construction, traffic was reintroduced to the 600 block of Main Street, between Tupper and Chippewa Streets, in the Theater District. On December 15, 2015, traffic was reintroduced to the 500 block of Main Street, between Chippewa and Mohawk Streets, in the Central Business District. On January 9, 2017, then-Governor Andrew Cuomo announced in his State of the State address that funding would be secured for the Amherst and Cobblestone line extensions. If successful, this would be the first extension in the service's history. Funding for an environmental review into the Amherst extension was approved in 2018. The study is expected to take between 24 and 30 months. Operations Route Metro Rail is a light rail transit (LRT) system as characterized by the American Public Transportation Association although it shares many characteristics with "heavy rail" metro systems and could be considered a "light metro." 80% of its track () is an underground subway with high-level platforms. This section has eight stations that are spaced fairly widely apart, comparable to subway systems elsewhere. This section is cut-and-cover from Allen/Medical Campus to Utica, then deep-bored from Delavan/Canisius College to University. The remaining 20% of its track () are on the surface on Main Street in downtown Buffalo, which includes a brief underpass of Buffalo’s tallest building, the Seneca One Tower. On the surface section, trains interact with automobile traffic from the theater district where it emerges from the tunnel until Mohawk