Open Letter To Drivers at Quaker Crossing Plaza In Orchard Park

Dear drivers at Quaker Crossing Plaza in Orchard Park,

Summer is around the corner, which means that we will be having busier traffic patterns across Western New York. Summertime and the holiday season typically means more traffic on both roads and plazas. Other than The Boulevard plaza in Amherst, there is no busier plaza in the Buffalo area than Quaker Crossing in Orchard Park.

I grew up in north Amherst, but have lived in the southtowns area since the end of 2012. Since that time, I have familiarized myself with Quaker Crossing Plaza. My fiancee worked there for a short while and I've visited a few stores there, dozens of times over the past decade.

The plaza can be a nightmare for traffic, especially weekends and during the holiday season. My dad said he will not drive into that plaza between Thanksgiving and Christmas, because of how congested it can get.

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There's really only one major way to get into the plaza; that's off Milestrip Road. There's also a back entrance which connects to Lake Avenue, but most vehicles enter off Milestrip.

There's no easy way to navigate that plaza. If you decide to go through the main entrance, the four-way stop (which has multiple lanes going in each direction) routinely causes massive traffic backups that go onto Milestrip and even block the turning lane going into the plaza.

If you're leaving the plaza from the movie theater side, the traffic can back up all the way to Regal and Red Robin.

If you go through the back entrance, you still have to go through the storefronts. There's also a ramp entrance (no exit), which can be useful to use if nobody else is in front of you.

It can be frustrating to be stuck in traffic in this plaza because of how popular it is, but too many times I've seen drivers use the "every man for himself" mentality. Meaning, they don't let other drivers go at the four-way stop (even if the other driver(s) got to the intersection first) or they don't let drivers leave lots, like Target.

Drivers who try and leave the Target near the four-way intersection have a very difficult time on weekends and holidays because of the continuous back-and-forth traffic going down Carly Jane Pl.

The design of the plaza makes for headaches, but it's exacerbated by the aggressive driving. We all want to leave and get in as fast as possible, but perhaps more courtesy is needed by some at Quaker Crossing.

Also, does anyone have any ideas how to alleviate traffic there?