Officials hold groundbreaking for Interstate 81 viaduct-replacement project

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Federal, state, and local officials on Friday held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Interstate 81 (I-81) viaduct-replacement project that remains the subject of ongoing litigation.

Officials spoke before a packed gymnasium inside STEAM at Dr. King Elementary School at 416 E. Raynor Ave. in Syracuse.

Those speaking at the groundbreaking event included New York Gov. Kathy Hochul; U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.); U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.); White House Senior Advisor & Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator Mitch Landrieu; Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh; and Lanessa Owens-Chaplin, director of racial justice with the NYCLU.

In a news release about the event, Schumer’s office described the groundbreaking as “formally launching one of the largest and most ambitious construction projects ever undertaken in Upstate New York.”

After the speaking portion inside the school, the officials involved then held shovels and tossed dirt from a mound assembled at the intersection of Martin Luther King East and Leon streets outside the school, which is just below the elevated viaduct and not far from the JMA Wireless Dome on the Syracuse University campus.

In speaking with reporters in the elementary school’s library after the ceremony, Hochul was asked about holding the groundbreaking event with the issue still in the courts. The governor replied, “We’re making great progress. We understand the litigation. I won’t comment on litigation, but this is an important milestone to move ahead on this element. The lower court judge allowed for this movement and we’re not going to wait.”

Overseen by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), the $2.25 billion project will create a community grid to “reconnect downtown neighborhoods severed by the I-81 viaduct’s construction and correct an enduring injustice that has disproportionately impacted residents of color in the City of Syracuse for decades,” Hochul’s office contended in a news release.

I-81 work underway

Major construction has started on the first of multiple contracts planned for the I-81 project, Hochul’s office said. Work on the first contract consists of reconstructing the existing Interstate 481/I-81 northern interchange to the re-designated I-81 and Business Loop 81, while also converting portions of I-481 to the new I-81 and making several road and bridge improvements along the corridor.

The second contract, which was awarded this week, will begin the conversion of the southern interchange of I-481/I-81. Together, these two contracts are “essential” to maintaining a high-speed interstate connection with national and international north-south trade routes from Tennessee to the Canadian border, the governor’s office stated.