The entrance, designed to alleviate traffic on the always-busy Transit Road, is 600 feet south of the current entrance. The retro sign for the drive-in will be moved to the new entrance, while the existing entrance will be removed and landscaped. It is believed that the new entrance will take 100 cars off of Transit Road during peak hours.
The driveway improvements, which cost an additional $100,000 on their own, were necessary to receive permission from New York State Department of Transportation to add a 5th screen, which is expected to be ready to open in early July. The cost for the drive-in to add a 5th screen will be over $1 million dollars, including building construction, site improvements, equipment, and land acquisition costs.
Transit Drive-in owner Rick Cohen says “We are in this business for the long haul. The people of Western New York love their outdoor summer activities, and there is nothing better, or more economical, to do as a family than pack up the car, minivan or SUV and spend an evening together watching movies under the stars on a giant outdoor screen.”
Cohen adds, “The motto we’ve been going by throughout this project is, ‘Just Keep Swimming,’ a reference to the new Disney Pixar movie ‘Finding Dory’ which just came out last weekend.
Located on South Transit Road in the Town of Lockport, the Transit Drive-In Theatre is the largest outdoor movie venue in New York State, showing first run movies on what will soon be five giant screens. The Transit Drive-In first opened on August 1, 1952 with a single screen, and has been operated by three generations of the Cohen family since 1957.
Get social with All WNY News. Facebook. Twitter. Instagram.
