Road work season is starting in earnest in New York, and that includes the major project that will change central New York’s transportation landscape.
I-81 Project Director Betsy Parmley calls this a “big season” for the transformative road project. Some aspects of the undertaking will be finished this year in the northern end of the reconfiguration.
“Up in Cicero, the large flyover ramp that basically goes from the existing I-81, which will be the new Business Loop 81, to I-81, the existing I-81,” said Parmley. “That's a huge bridge that's been under construction for quite some time actually, and that'll be open for the traveling public soon."
Other parts of the project are just beginning, like the reimagining of the I-481 off-ramp that leads to the eastern suburbs. Parmley said steps will be taken during this part of the project to minimize impact.
“A lot of the work will actually be at night,” she said. “And a lot of the widening that has to happen at Exit 3 will be able to happen with just lane closures, like the motorists have seen for much of the construction in that area. So we recognize there's a lot of people that drive through that interchange. So we're doing it at the lower volume times."
There will also be extensive work on I-690 at the site of a new interchange, the southern 481 interchange, and the Inner Harbor. To keep track of it all, Parmley urges central New Yorkers to get an app that outlines times and places where construction delays could be an issue.
"We've accomplished so much in the two years. We've been in construction already, the noise barriers, you know, some of the bridges that will be completed. But we encourage people to use the app to plan ahead. There will be some possible delays to the traveling public, but our goal is to get in and get out and get the work done so people can start enjoying the community grid."
The $2.25 billion project, with a main focus of removing a crumbling viaduct that has split the city of Syracuse in half, has been in the works for two years. And 2025 marks the halfway point of the undertaking, with it expected to be completed in 2028.
