I-81: The Beast

"The Beast" from the 20th floor of the Crowne Plaza Syracuse.

Let's Get Busy

Welp, it's only been about a year since the last post here on Salt City Critique. It feels much longer. Not much has changed on my end, but I did move from Downtown into the lovely residential neighborhood of Tipperary Hill recently. My seven years spent Downtown were fantastic and that neighborhood made it very easy to fall in love with (specifically the close proximity to awesome food). Perhaps a post on what I learned and how the neighborhood changed from 2007-2014 is on deck soon.

For now, I've decided to reboot the blog due to the I-81 discussion heating up as of late. Check out ReThink81's boulevard renderings (which look fantastic!) and see what Centro's Executive Director had to say on how his company will handle any possible solution. Those are some big points for the boulevard. Meanwhile, all is quiet from Save81.

In the meantime, let's kick things back into gear with a presentation by James Howard Kunstler from the TED: Ideas Worth Spreading conference in 2004 in Monterey, CA. (Video contains harsh language)

Nighttime pictures of I-81

10 Reasons Why I Do Not Like Save81

"Of course not. You lack vision. But I see a place where people get on and off the freeway. On and off, off and on, all day, all night. Soon, where Toon Town once stood will be a string of gas stations, inexpensive motels, restaurants that serve rapidly prepared food, tire salons, automobile dealerships, and wonderful, wonderful billboards reaching as far as the eye can see! My God, it will be beautiful."
- Judge Doom, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"

In August of 2013, Save81, a coalition of Onondaga County Legislatures, Destiny USA representatives, and local businesses, was launched. The group is dedicated to keeping the I-81 highway through Syracuse in some capacity (be it underground, depressed, or via a new highway) and is vehemently opposed to a boulevard concept; one of several options being considered by the New York State Department of Transportation.

Since the group's inception, Save81 has managed to gather signatures and add membership from local residents, businesses, and politicians. However, in the process they've managed to ignore recent facts and trends, have shown flaws in their arguments, and have been unable to demonstrate with any sustenance as to why they do not support the excluded boulevard option. This post is not written just because I disagree with their stance. It's written because the group cannot formulate a legitimate argument and is therefore detrimental to an intelligent discussion of I-81. The following are 10 reasons why I do not like Save81.

All Hail The Car (Re: "A point-by-point look at the I-81 alternatives: Commentary")

Minch Lewis, former Syracuse City Auditor and MDA Project Manager, recently wrote a commentary for the Post-Standard in regards to the Syracuse Metropolitan Transportation Council's analysis of I-81 and how that summary provided mixed signals to the public.

While I strongly disagree that the SMTC’s analysis provided little if any mixed signals, Mr. Lewis is certainly entitled to his opinion. However, his arguments, which favored rebuilding I-81 through Downtown Syracuse, consisted of vague points, random figures, irrelevant references to city life from 40 years ago, and used poor examples in supporting his case.

Mind you, this was not an article per-se, but more of a largely worded opinion piece which was printed by the Post-Standard. I understand that the main media outlet in the region is doing its best job (and they have for the most part) to provide a wide range of opinions about I-81 as this is a major decision that will have drastic consequences in either case of a rebuild or boulevard. My concern is when these opinion pieces are filled with very little facts or thoughtful dialogue, such as the one written by Mr. Lewis.

You can find the entire piece here. There's quite a bit to get into, so I'll do more of a response to the individual sentences and paragraphs.

Syracuse's Elevated Highways in Pictures

Here are some recent pictures of the elevated portions of I-81 and I-690. Having lived next to them for about 6 years now, I've walked underneath them many times, but had never walked the entire length of I-81 through Downtown before. Some opinions and observations from the experience...

It's huge. The amount of space that the elevated portions take up both horizontally and vertically is massive.

Homelessness is a real problem at the intersection near Erie Boulevard and Townsend.

There's almost no on-street parking around the highways and almost all of the surface lots are privately owned or owned by the NYSDOT.

It's loud. This is an uneducated guess, but I'd go out on the limb to say that the noise level hovers around 70 to 80 decibels; or the amount of volume that comes from a vacuum cleaner. In all seriousness, it would be interesting to see what the exact decibel levels are and how much exposure someone would need for potential ear damage generated by these highways.

I did not feel safe walking underneath the elevated portions; most specifically when crosswalks were poorly marked, but also in terms of personal safety from of the amount of desolation and isolation that they encourage.

There's no sidewalk on the western side of I-81 between Harrison and Adams streets, so anyone living in the Pioneer Homes who needs to walk north, has to walk on a dirt path (which you can actually see on Google Maps).

On to the pictures...

Syracuse Love

Thoughts from the SMCT's public meeting on I-81 yesterday. Hat-tip to Jim.

Salt City Critique's proposal for I-81

The I-81 debate is catching fire as of late. There was a meeting in Salina about I-81 last month, four proposal companies are being reviewed by the state, the Onondaga County Legislature did a premature ejaculation vote on keeping I-81 as a highway, I wrote a letter to the editor about the vote on Syracuse.com, The Post-Standard editorial board wrote their response to the vote, then the Town of Owasco voted to keep I-81 as a highway (where town supervisor Ed Wagner will be galavanting around Cayuga County to dredge-up support to keep I-81 as a highway through Downtown Syracuse), and there is another public meeting on I-81 next week.

Owasco? Yikes. Let's keep this discussion within the same ballpark. That's like saying I have a right to input on tolls on the Jersey Turnpike.

And we're still many months away from any sort of official word from the state.

So at the risk of turning this into an I-81 discussion blog, which at this point is pretty much what this place already is, I thought I'd lay out my plans for what I hope is done with I-81. Let's kick it...

Proposal for I-81

1) Dismantle the elevated portions of I-81 between Adams St. and Pearl St. This isn't an opinion, but a mandatory project that the New York State Department of Transportation will be conducting sometime around 2017.

Construction of the I-690 and I-81 interchange in the middle 20th century

2) Encourage and re-route I-81 travel to I-481. I'm not a licensed traffic engineer, but I'm guessing that this is what the state DOT will be doing anyway during the dismantling process. As I see it, cars will still be able to drive north on I-81 into the Adams St. area and south on I-81 into the Pearl St. / Salina St. area, but we may see signs as far south as Nedrow and as far north as North Syracuse that detour thru-traffic to I-481. Again, all speculation. Though, if this is the case, I have a feeling this is going to be the messy part of the entire project regardless of whatever solution NYS decides on. People will be over-reacting and up-in-arms about traffic times and on and off ramp delays in and around Downtown. Maybe rightfully so in some cases because I can see it getting tricky around rush-hour times, so it actually might be difficult if there are no sensical on or off ramp solutions or detours that NYS encourages.

3) Rename I-81 between I-481 N and I-481 S as the Syracuse Intercity Highway (or some variation thereof). Rename I-481 as I-81. This is more or less a smoke and mirrors tactic to cloud the fact that cars will be adding several minutes to their commutes around Syracuse via the old I-481.

Map demonstrating new I-81 and the Syracuse Intercity Highway

4) Have the new Syracuse Intercity Highway dump in and out at Adams St. (south of Downtown) and near Erie Blvd. (north of Downtown), create simpler and easier transition to I-81 at Pearl St., and improve all of its on and off ramps north to regional transportation center.

5) Build a civic parkway beginning at Adams St heading up toward Erie Blvd; two, one-way streets bordering a neighborhood park stretching ~0.8 miles in length with stop lights at most intersections (lights at Madison St, E Genesee St, E Fayette St, E Washington St, E Water St, Erie Blvd E) which restores this section of Downtown to its original streetscape and grid pattern.

Map demonstrating new greenspace and the Syracuse Intercity Highway

6) Construct the parkway as a likeness to Commonwealth Ave in Boston, MA. A park in the center, buffered by two one-way streets, buffered by sidewalks.

7) Add bike lanes between the street and sidewalks (which could help spur growth) and connect them to routes along Connective Corridor.

8) Require specific building permits and zoning laws on the new plots of land in front of the sidewalks. The new zoning laws: units at least 2 or 3 stories high (strictly mixed-use or residential buildings only) located close to the sidewalk.

9) Decrease the speed limits to a sensible 30 or 35 mph, have crosswalks at each intersection, and have parallel parking on each side located along the new parkway.

10) Name the new parkway the Almond Street Parkway. It's catchy, reminiscant of the old street that I-81 was towering over, and brings some much needed elegance to the city.

11) Plant almond trees along the center of the new greenspace to match the name of the parkway and bring some much needed color into Downtown.

12) Tie the new greenspace together with Forman Park, creating one centralized park for Downtown and University Hill; a symbol of unification between the two neighborhoods.

13) Plant a tree (something different, an oak perhaps) or a water feature at the nexus of the two parks, signifying the abandonment of the elevated, concrete highway through Downtown - which is similar to what the residents did in Greenwich Village when they blocked an elevated highway running on top of their neighborhood in the early 1960's. The tree still stands today.

My hopes and expectations

It will take some time, but I'm hoping the city will grow specifically between Downtown and the medical centers. Will traffic be a harder handle between Erie Blvd and Adams St? It's possible - but specifically only during weekday rush-hours. Street traffic volume as well as current I-81 traffic volume is very low outside of rush-hours.

Other predictions: real estate values rise along the ex-highway that is now beautified (just like it's happened in other cities that have done the same thing), the university and medical centers begin to intertwine with Downtown (just like other successful cities do), new businesses and more jobs move in and around Downtown, more people move into the city (specifically around Downtown) as a result of its current and potential growth, and the city's tax base begins to grow, giving them desperately needed money to spend on police and fire departments, schools, utilities, and housing.

That's mine. If you have thoughts, critiques, or ideas of your own, feel free to write them in the comments.

Food for thought on I-81

This is short, SimCity-ish video of Rio de Janeiro's plans to transform its entire waterfront district in preparation for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. The city is planning to demolish its elevated highway, construct an underground tunnel (totaling about 0.9 miles in length), and rebuild its streetscape along the old highway. Hat tip to The Atlantic Cities.

I can't say I like all of the ideas in this video (especially the parts that hint of neighborhood gentrification), but it's interesting to see what they might be doing there and compare that to what kind of effect those types of things could have on a region like Central New York; especially considering that an underground tunnel idea has been floated before, the possibility of bringing a real park to Downtown Syracuse, and what future changes to I-81 could have on I-690.

Ammo against I-81

The "what to do with I-81?" discussion will be heating up soon, as the state DOT attempts to make a decision by 2017-ish on the fate of the elevated highway through Downtown Syracuse. Between now and then there will be a ton of public debate about what the best option will be for not only Downtown, but for Central New York in general.

Personally, I find the whole thing to be a no-brainer: tear it down, utilize I-481 as a bypass and rename it, and replace I-81 with a ground-level parkway or boulevard; something that helps to connect The Hill with lower Downtown.

If you generally agree with that sentiment, then I've gone ahead and done some of the dirty work for you. Please feel free to use any or all of these passive-aggressive, bullet points and/or questions when someone actually tries to defend rebuilding I-81 through Downtown Syracuse.

***

Separating the city's two major money generators, Syracuse University and the medical centers, from the city's epicenter and most desirable neighborhood, Downtown, with a giant concrete highway seems like a gross misallocation of resources.

I fail to see how demolishing more infrastructure for the sake of a bigger highway system will help the city grow.

How will an elevated highway beautify both Downtown and its walking experience and can you provide some examples of when this has worked in other cities? (The answer is usually "no").

According to Google Maps, a trip from Nedrow to Cicero via I-81 takes 22 minutes. The trip around Downtown via I-481 to I-81 takes 26 minutes. Unless my math is incorrect, that's only a difference of 4 minutes.

Building a huge, concrete highway directly through the region's urban center seems very 1954-ish to me.

I wonder if there's any correlation between the construction of I-81 and the city's population plummeting during the middle-half of the 20th century?

Did you know that Downtown Syracuse has no true park for its 2,500 residents and its 30,000 workers? I thought that was a funny little bit of info.

Since its lifespan is nearing an end and the highway is coming down anyway, how does rebuilding it every 50 years make good financial sense?

Syracuse is a small city and rebuilding a highway through its center contains its size and dampens potential growth of Downtown and University Hill, its two fastest growing neigborhoods.

Ambulances and emergency vehicles should be fine. More people will not die because there is no elevated highway. Emergency vehicles nowadays have these fancy things called sirens and lights. Furthermore, an emergency vehicle can get trapped on a highway just as easily, if not more easily, than it could on the streets (here's a good example of it actually happening).

If not having an elevated highway helps to attract new businesses and people to Downtown, is it so much to ask for people to sacrifice their already low commuting times?

Gas is wasted and the environment is polluted the second the ignition is turned on in a car. Please don't use the "we'll be wasting more gas" as a legitimate argument or try to make me feel guilty about the environment any more than I already do. People will be using more gas for the very reason that they chose to have a car and live far away from the city's center in the first place.

Riddle me this: do we want a better place to live or do we want to drive faster?

"Give Yourself the Green Light"

I love watching propaganda films like these. This one, "Give Yourself the Green Light", was produced by General Motors in 1954 and is advocating for the creation of the Interstate Highway System.

While watching this, I can't help but be reminded of the current and the upcoming discussion of I-81. I think if someone were to make a film advocating for the reconstruction and rebuilding of an elevated highway through Downtown Syracuse today, their ideas would be presented in a similar style as this one.

Towards the end of the film, you see examples of highways from Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Chicago. It's actually hard to fathom how much of their core infrastructure these cities were willing to sacrifice and destroy just for the sake of automobiles. This was taken about 60 years ago, but the magnitude of what was going on is still hard to comprehend today.