Great. Thanks. I can use Oakwood Cemetery and Syracuse University as landmarks.
It also shows how much the density of occupied land surrounding it makes pols ask engineers if they can’t just go under it all.
Frankly, I was never a fan of the Interstates ever themselves going into or through the heart of major cities, preferring Interstate “ring” roads around major city cores with just major blvd exits off of them. It would have avoided all the truck freight traffic that wants to bypass the city core competing with business/personal traffic that actually wants to get into or out of the core area. As one who has done some long distance car travel there too I have cursed the travel delays stuck on some Interstate in the core of a major city I had no intention of stopping in. To me having Interstates running directly through major city cores defeats the idea of an Interstate - easier LONG DISTANCE travel - which does not necessarily meaning stopping in every major city along a given path.
My idea would be to rename I-481 around Syracuse as I-81 and widen it to six lanes. At the same time, the original I-81 would become I-81 business (with the green shields instead of RWB) and then the viaduct would be replaced by a boulevard, which was one of the ideas originally being considered.
The widening of the new I-81 route would be to accommodate through traffic that would now desire to speed around the city.
Also, with such a plan, the I-81/I-481 interchange north of the city would need to be modified. Right now, it is a substandard four-leaf clover. High speed connectors between I-81 (future I-81 Business), I-481 (future I-81) and perhaps NY-481 as well would be needed to replace that configuration.
Syracuse’s rush hours last minutes. This isn’t about efficiency. It’s about work for union labor.