By Casey Jordan
Onondaga County Legislature, District 4
Interstate 81 is one of the main thoroughfares in Central New York. In Onondaga County, it connects Cicero to Tully, passing directly through the city of Syracuse. It would be hard to imagine the impact of no longer having this highway to serve as a major commuter route for people that live to the north or south of the City of Syracuse and eliminating one of the major quality of life attributes enjoyed by Central New York residents.
Syracuse is certainly the economic center of our county, with approximately 80,000 cars traveling Interstate 81 on a daily basis to businesses, hospitals and educational institutions. Portions of Interstate 81, however, are reaching the end of their useful life, and particularly the 1.4 mile elevated section of I-81 that runs through downtown Syracuse.
For the better part of 10 years, our community has been discussing what to do with this aging infrastructure that is so essential to our region. The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) are completing the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) which is looking at a few options; a no-build option, which would entail continued maintenance, a new viaduct that would need to be reconstructed to meet current standards, a community grid or street-level option, as well as, tunnel alternatives.
At a recent meeting of the legislature’s Planning and Economic Development committee, members were updated on the work the Save 81 coalition is doing to educate citizens on this historic project. Save 81 is a group of community members that are in favor of maintaining I-81 through the city as an interstate. They oppose bringing the highway down to grade as a community grid for many reasons and hired an engineering firm to review the traffic analysis that was made available in the feasibility study conducted by the state.
Save 81 specifically asked the engineers to focus their analysis on the community grid option. They posed several questions; does it serve the needs of the city of Syracuse, how does it affect long distance travelers, what is the economic impact and how would a community grid option affect traffic volumes in downtown? Not surprisingly, the conclusion they came to, after several months of reviewing the available data, is that the community grid option would not be a practical solution for our region. In fact, it would cause gridlock at approximately 100 intersections in downtown Syracuse during peak hours. This could mean sitting at a traffic light for two to four cycles.
Also, anyone who has driven a vehicle for any period of time knows very well to expect other drivers to engage in conduct detrimental to the efficient and effective flow of traffic. One wonders whether these scenarios have been appropriately and effectively factored into the “modeling” relied upon in the traffic studies that are so conveniently used to justify implementation of the community grid option.
It is time to embrace the idea of either reconstructing the viaduct to current DOT standards without unnecessary improvements to city streets and intersections (truly the least costly option), reconstructing the viaduct while improving the city streets and intersections so as to encourage potential economic growth, or a hybrid solution that incorporates removing the elevated portion of I-81 and replacing it with a tunnel that maintains through traffic.
Making it more difficult and time-consuming to get in and out of the city of Syracuse will not encourage people to move back into the city, nor will it result in the expansion of business in the city. To the contrary, it would drive people and business out of the city of Syracuse, leading to its further decline. A community grid alone will be a detriment to our city, our county and the greater Central New York region. It is critical that we make the best decision for everyone, not just the vocal minority; this decision is just too important.
Casey Jordan represents the 14th district which includes the eastern portion of the Town of Clay and the Village of North Syracuse. Casey welcomes constituent feedback and can be contacted at (315) 699-7246 or by email at [email protected].
