Mr. Norquist:
On behalf of the Onondaga Citizens League Board of Directors and the Study Committee, I am pleased to transmit a copy of the OCL Report, “Rethinking I-81.” A hard copy of the report will be mailed to you.

When the “Rethinking I-81” Study Committee began meeting in early 2008, some committee members had serious doubts about the hypothesis that formed the basis of the study: that I-81 through traffic could be rerouted around the city, and local traffic handled on a surface level boulevard.

After months of study of the situation, and review of other cities that had turned highways to boulevards, the “Rethinking I-81” Study Committee came away convinced of the merits of the idea for the region. Elimination of the elevated highway and creation of better access to, and within, the downtown and University Hill areas has immense potential for positive impact in terms of economic development, employment growth and environmental improvement.

OCL hopes this study report contributes in a significant way to the community dialogue on the future of I-81. Thank you for the invaluable help you provided to us.

Sandra Barrett
Executive Vice President
Onondaga Citizens League
315.443.4846
http://onondagacitizensleague.org

“They’re a real turd in the punch bowl,” Norquist said last week. “You want to make a city ugly quick, put a freeway through the middle of it.”

There is also a perfectly good highway running parallel to I-84 from Meriden to Hartford: I-91, which was recently reconstructed at heavy expense, and another six-lane expressway, I-691, connecting the two. Google Maps says that it would actually take a minute less to go from Waterbury to Manchester along this route than to take I-84 the whole way.

And guess what? The highway has an exit ramp leading directly to the underground parking lot of the ESP so that suburban state workers can spend their entire day on the podium and then drive home without ever being forced to set foot on the streets of Albany.

And here’s the city-sponsored redevelopment concepts:
http://franklinstreet.us/archives/125

Detailed engineering and analysis for transforming Franklin Arterial into Franklin Street is funded and expected to begin this summer. Most people expect deconstruction to begin within the next 2 years.

Atlanta, GA is another city terribly torn apart by the huge freeways running through it. It would be better to replace the freeway inside urban areas with freight and passenger rail systems running underground, on streets, or elevated. Rail has less emissions, is fuel efficient, carries more people per space used, and is faster than our freeways will ever be.

That right of way could be used for BRT, giving Hartford a rapid transit trunk line, at limited cost (relative to rail).

If you have a grade separated right of way, rail could be added later if the additional capacity is required.