Study supports freeway removal as best option

A tunnel would cost nearly three times as much as converting the aging I-81 in Syracuse to a boulevard—as suggested by CNU's Freeways Without Futures report.

A new study shows that building a tunnel to carry Interstate 81 traffic through Syracuse, NY, would cost billions more dollars and take a decade to complete. The wisdom of transforming the aging elevated highway to a surface boulevard, as suggested by CNU's Freeways Without Futures 2017 list, is reinforced by the study.

The tunnel is nearly three times as costly as tearing down the elevated highway and restoring a street grid, while sending through traffic around the city center on I-481. A third option, rebuilding the Viaduct—which is nearing the end of its useful life—would cost only $400 million more than the boulevard, and the surface street would support far more economic development. The Syracuse Viaduct is one of 10 projects on CNU's Freeways Without Futures list.

For over 50 years, the elevated 1.4-mile stretch of Interstate 81 known as The Viaduct has cut like a knife through the heart of Syracuse, New York. For the urban neighborhoods in its path, I-81 has had the same effect as most urban interstates: it destroyed a historic African-American community, disrupted the flow of city streets, and paved over countless historic homes and sites.

More