The next stage of the I-81 project shifts construction toward the viaduct, including the removal of the first several spans of the 1.4 mile elevated highway. The state Department of Transportation will hold an open house on Wednesday to give residents and drivers an idea of what to expect.
“This is where the first part of the viaduct comes down,” said project director Betsy Parmley as she stood at the southern end of the viaduct near Van Buren where it once intersected Renwick Street. “It actually will come down in three different contracts as part of the project, but this is the first place we start taking the viaduct down.”
The seven southernmost spans are being removed as part of what’s called Contract 5. Parmley said the work on I-481 and I-690 is all in preparation for this part of the project.
“The other four contracts that we've been working on, building out interchanges, building out lanes, that's to prepare us to get to this point where we can start to take down the viaduct,” she said. “So that's what makes this contract really special and unique.”
Crews are already preparing the new path of what will be known as Business Loop 81 on the city’s south side as part of the street level boulevard. Northbound traffic will slow before it reaches a roundabout at roughly Van Buren and Almond Streets.
“The roundabout will be that gateway into downtown,” Parmley explained. “Pedestrian crossings on the northside of the roundabout, access to the hill and then obviously access southbound as well.”
She said they’re also building a new railroad bridge which will go over the new Business Loop just south of the roundabout. Right now, the railroad goes under the highway. The new railroad bridge will have a bigger opening and higher clearance with better lighting than the current bridge, she said
The open house is Wednesday from 6 to 8 pm at Institute of Technology at Syracuse Central on East Adams St.
