I don't know who Michael J. Gallagher is but he's read my mind. This is all really good, here are the first two paragraphs.
Town leaders keep pushing "solutions" that traffic engineers keep rejecting, like a tunnel or "signature" bridge, writes a Cortland resident.
www.syracuse.com
"With regard to the April 20 article,
“After a decade of talk, suburban leaders say their worries remain ignored,” the truth is that the suburban leaders’ arguments against the Interstate 81 community grid have been heard. How could they not? They have held press conferences. They have passed nonbinding resolutions in their town boards opposing the grid and sent them to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. In the winter of 2018-2019, they went to Albany to make their case in person to governor. The town supervisors just didn’t get the answer they (and the parties who send them campaign contributions) wanted.
Grid opponents have pushed for a
tunnel or a depressed highway as a way to maintain high-speed access through Syracuse. The New York State Department of Transportation rejected those ideas, mainly because there is a swamp under Almond Street. Still, grid opponents prevailed on the governor to have the DOT take another look at tunnels. They and depressed highways were rejected again, and by the time that happened, the project had been held up for two years. (Grid opponents have also complained about delays, ignoring the fact that they have caused them.) Yet still the town supervisors want their tunnel or depressed highway. Incidentally, a depressed highway was also rejected when I-81 was first built 60 years ago. That’s why there’s a viaduct. Yet the town supervisors cannot let go of this idea that was so bad, it was rejected three times."