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'Iconic bridge’ wouldn’t make I-81 function better for SyracusePost-Standard letter July 31, 2019To the Editor: Minch Lewis, in his July 20 Comment, suggests converting the downtown 1.2 mile I-81 viaduct into an iconic bridge, and that the greater aesthetics of such a bridge would somehow resolve the objections to rebuilding I-81 through the city. However, the idea is not new. It has been integral to all NYSDOT I-81 rebuild proposals, and has been discussed locally since the 2008 Onondaga Citizens League report. The main objection to an I-81 rebuild is not aesthetics, but function; it is the negative impact of the highway's very existence in the city: the highly concentrated traffic dumped at a few exits which causes the rush-hour congestion we see today; the dozens of acres of land it consumes; the blight of previously attractive streets now designed as one-way, multi-lane highway feeders to manage that congestion. The highway doesn't serve the city; rather the city has been compromised to serve the highway. The iconic bridge will not change the current traffic patterns. An I-81 rebuild will still consume more land and destroy more buildings. And, most concerning for future development, it will not eliminate the downtown spaghetti junction. A street-grid solution does not compromise function for aesthetics; it improves both function and aesthetics. Highways are for travel between cities; the street-grid is for accessing myriad destination within the city. You can't have a highway to every door. Locally destined I-81 traffic already uses the street-grid to reach the last 1-3 miles. The street-grid solution will not add traffic, but it will disperse it effectively. A $2 Billion investment in the street-grid will make our streets more efficient and attractive for all people, throughout the city, and at all times of the day.
Carlo Moneti
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