SENATOR DEFRANCISCO ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF HIS 50th SENATE DISTRICT SURVEY ON I-81 / Majority of respondents want north-south thoroughfare at Interstate speed through Syracuse

State Senator John A. DeFrancisco held a press conference on Wednesday, September 24, 2014, at the State Office Building in Syracuse to discuss the final results of his I-81 survey. The survey asked people living in Senator DeFrancisco’s district to share their thoughts on the future of I-81.The survey, which was mailed last month to constituents of the 50th Senate District, provided four main options for addressing the critical infrastructure needs of Interstate 81. Respondents were asked to choose the option they thought would best serve the entire community: repair or replace the current I-81 viaduct; remove the existing viaduct and replace it with an underground tunnel; remove the existing viaduct and replace it with a boulevard; or remove the existing viaduct and replace it with a tunnel-boulevard hybrid option.Secondly, the survey asked people’s thoughts on maintaining a north-south thoroughfare, at interstate speed, through the City of Syracuse.  (Two bar graphs that display the survey's full results are attached below.)More than 4,200 people completed Senator DeFrancisco’s I-81 survey, either online or by mail, with a vast 81 percent of the respondents stating that it is important to keep a north-south thoroughfare, at interstate speed, through the City of Syracuse. Furthermore, 58 percent of the respondents would prefer the current I-81 viaduct to be either repaired or rebuilt, with just 17 percent supporting a street-level boulevard only option through the City of Syracuse. “Central New Yorkers will be living with the new I-81 solution for many generations, and this survey shows that the majority of my constituents strongly desire to keep a north-south highway, at interstate speed, through the City of Syracuse,” said Senator DeFrancisco. “I have mailed the results of my survey to New York State Department of Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald for consideration, as her department works with federal officials on arriving at a final I-81 decision.” ######