Our reader: DeWitt supervisor supports hybrid community grid option for I-81 replacement

Dear editor,

Though there has been a flurry of political viewpoints recently regarding Interstate 81 and the community grid option, elected representatives of impacted communities — the majority of the public polled and also the DeWitt Town Board — have spoken. All support a hybrid community grid option.

Nineteen Town Supervisors and 12 Village Mayors favor the conservation of I-81’s current route through Syracuse — and also a hybrid solution to replace the aging viaduct — as did 67 percent of residents polled in six public opinion polls.

As Supervisor of the Town of DeWitt, President of the Onondaga Environmental Institute, former corporate sponsor to the Onondaga Earth Corp. and Partnership for Onondaga Creek, it is my considered opinion based on the factors above — the well-being of my constituents, common sense transportation planning principles and critical economic realities — a community grid option alone is not only the least advisable option, but could negatively impact the region’s economic viability.

For years I have advocated a hybrid community grid option as a wise, reasoned, economically smart solution; a compromise beyond simply replacing the aging viaduct. An innovatively designed hybrid community grid could work with a depressed highway, an elevated highway or a tunnel; an innovative hybrid design could also be architecturally unique, visually appealing, or even iconic.

Advocates of the community grid option alone make a mistaken assumption; that all commuters are headed downtown. Missing from that supposition is everyone who crosses downtown daily, from city residents and workers who are mobile throughout the day — postal carriers, delivery, repair and medical services, students, IT and maintenance workers, vendors and suppliers — to those who live south and work north at Crouse-Hinds, Destiny USA, Salina Meadows and the airport, as well as those who live north and work south at Community Hospital, Onondaga Community College and Loretto.

Further, both the reality of the gig economy and the proliferation of internet purchasing necessitate the transportation of people, goods and services be both dependable and rapid. Any plan that works against the demands of e-commerce would be a grievous error, especially with regard to attracting much needed new business to the central New York region.

As a steward of my community, I continue to strongly oppose Interstate 481 becoming Route 81 and I favor a hybrid community grid option; my fellow Supervisors and Mayors, the majority of the DeWitt Town Board and the public agree. We have spoken; let’s hope DOT and our state government is listening.

Sincerely,

Ed Michalenko, Ph.D., Town of DeWitt Supervisor