Right. 81 is the main North south path through the city. If you coming from the North or south then it is pretty good be that you will using it. It takes you to the “Great” carousal mall which attracts many people that come from out of the city. And then Syracuse has something no other city in NYS has. It is home to the New York State Fair. No one would want to even imagine how long it would take to get there without a fast paced I81. Maybe more importantly is that quick access to major hospitals such as Upstate Medical Hospital would be greatly affected. The alternate routes are either extremely longer in distance or involve stop and go city traffic going through some very dangerous neighborhoods. Who is going to want to do either?
My understanding is that the viaduct is not so much worn out as it has constantly had major repairs. No the problem is that the Federal Government now wants more lanes than the viaduct can provide. They insist that to be up to current standards that it would have to be widened. The current number of lanes seem sufficient. Especially when you consider how much these alternate plans would slow things down. There are very few times when you can’t just wiz from one end of the viaduct to the other in less than 5 minutes. So why spend all that money as well. The viaduct sits right next to Upstate Hospital by the way. As things are now an Ambulance could enter Syracuse from the south of Syracuse via 81 and be parked in front of the hospital in a little more than 5 minutes. Mess with that and some people will die.
Lived in Syracuse for 40+ years until I moved to Rochester in 2004