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Open house today provides details about what’s next for the massive I-81 project

Earth movers sit at the end of a construction project where they've dug a path that runs along the interstate's side, but ten feet lower. A cement retaining wall runs along the path's opposite side.
Scott Willis
/
WAER
This is the news path for Business Loop 81 northbound. The current I-81 can be seen at the upper left.

Residents and drivers can learn more today about the next part of the I-81 project as it reaches a key milestone. As we reported earlier in this series, the first sections of the viaduct are being removed in preparation for a street-level boulevard called Business Loop 81 that goes through downtown. But northbound drivers will soon have an option to exit even earlier at Colvin Street.

“That’s one of the really basic but really great parts of this contract is adding that off-ramp,” state DOT I-81 project director Betsy Parmley said. Drivers get easier access to Syracuse University’s south campus and the city’s near south side.

But not all of the work in what the DOT calls Contract 5 involves ramps, roads, and traffic. Parmley said while they’re digging, they’re replacing a major sewer line that prevents millions of gallons of rainwater from going through the main sewage treatment plant.

“These are huge pipes. They're like 10 foot in diameter 20 foot deep and it will run all along Almond St. and then up to Erie Blvd. Where it gets picked up by other contracts,” she said. “That is the huge part of this project that people really don't see, but it will improve the water quality.”

Despite the extensive and disruptive work during this part of the project, Parmley said they’re maintaining two lanes of traffic in both directions on I-81.

“To do that, traffic will be shifted onto the southbound side of 81, both northbound and southbound,” she said. “We're doing a little widening up there right now. So we'll be able to fit 4 lanes in and then we can start removing 81 northbound.”

NYS DOT I-81 Project Director Betsy Parmley points to the new route for the railroad, which will go over Business Loop 81.
Scott Willis
/
WAER
NYS DOT I-81 Project Director Betsy Parmley points to the new route for the railroad, which will go over Business Loop 81.

A watershed moment in the project is when the viaduct starts to come down. Parmley estimated crews will remove the first sections in 2027. All of Contract 5, including the Colvin exit ramp, railroad bridge, roundabout, and viaduct removal should wrap up by mid-2028. The DOT’s open house runs Wednesday from 6 to 8 pm at the Institute of Technology at Syracuse Central on E. Adams St.

Scott Willis covers politics, local government, transportation, and arts and culture for WAER. He came to Syracuse from Detroit in 2001, where he began his career in radio as an intern and freelance reporter. Scott is honored and privileged to bring the day’s news and in-depth feature reporting to WAER’s dedicated and generous listeners. You can find him on twitter @swillisWAER and email him at srwillis@syr.edu.