Save81.org recently commissioned an independent poll on the future of Interstate 81.
By a wide margin, Onondaga County residents favor keeping Interstate 81 as an interstate highway rather than replacing it with a boulevard or “community grid” through the City of Syracuse. Public Policy Polling conducted the poll of 1,138 voters on November 28th and 29th. The margin of error is +/- 2.9%.
59% of the respondents support keeping I-81 as an interstate highway through Syracuse with only 34% supporting turning it into a boulevard. 7% of the respondents were not sure.
City residents favored retaining Interstate 81 by 57% to 36%, with 7% not sure. 31% of respondents live in the city of Syracuse.
Respondents were asked if they preferred Interstate 81 remain as an Interstate highway along its present route through Syracuse or be rerouted to the east on Interstate 481 and replaced with a street-level route through Syracuse.
“These results are consistent with all public opinion surveys conducted since the New York State Department of Transportation initiated public discussion of the issue about three years ago,” said Tony Mangano a member of Save81.org. “The DOT must reconsider and adopt the Access Syracuse Plan, which would meet the desires of all of respondents, by keeping the Interstate highway intact in its vital route through Syracuse while also providing a surface boulevard that could actually carry the reduced traffic load required of it.”