Representatives of local, state and federal government joined project planners and supporters at the site of the Inner Loop Transformation Project on Monday.
A "first fill" ceremony was held on the section of the roadway closed off to traffic.
It calls for filling in a portion of the Inner Loop near Monroe Avenue in order to reconnect neighborhoods and spur development.
Senator Charles Schumer said the project puts 230 people to work to "tear down the proverbial Berlin Wall in Rochester."
Congresswoman Louise Slaughter said federally-funded studies indicated the Inner Loop was doing more harm than good, by disconnecting neighborhoods and making it harder for Rochester to thrive.
Rochester Downtown Development Corporation President Heidi Zimmer-Mayer says probably the most significant outcome of this project is going to be able to knit back together neighborhoods that were ripped apart when the Inner Loop was built.
She says job one is filling it in, job two will be the development side.
Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren says this project will cost around 21-million dollars -- 16.5 in federal, 4.1 in state, and 400-thousand in city funds.
It'll take about three years to complete.
