Syracuse, NY – Save 81 today announced the Trucking Association of New York (TANY) is joining the vast coalition of concerned citizens, elected officials and business leaders from Syracuse and Central New York who are committed to preserving a high-speed option to and through the city.
Approximately 90 percent of New York communities depend on trucks to deliver food and other necessities for both commercial and personal use. Replacing I-81 with busy city streets would hamper the trucking industry’s ability to efficiently provide these services, creating irreparable economic damage, massive safety and environmental problems, and making longer emergency response times unavoidable.
“With the support of the Trucking Association of New York, Save 81 has added another critical voice toward our collective goal of ensuring a high-speed option through Syracuse that will benefit the economy, the environment, and the quality of life across the region,” said Save 81 spokesman Mark Nicotra. “I want to thank Steve Erwin, Kendra Hems, and all the truckers in New York State. These are the unsung heroes who keep our hospitals equipped and our store shelves stocked every day, all year round.”
“We feel it’s important to educate the public and the decision makers about why maintaining I-81’s existing route will serve our community now and for decades to come,” said Steve Erwin, Central Region Vice Chair for the Trucking Association of New York. “We cannot afford to get this choice wrong.”
The presence of large trucks traveling through a packed community grid with dozens of intersections and red lights poses major issues for the trucking industry. The large size of commercial vehicles is not optimal for dense urban areas, increasing the chances of collisions. Moving through a community grid, which entails “stop and go” traffic, will harm air quality with untold numbers of tractor-trailers forced to idle at stoplights.
Public opinion polling has repeatedly shown a regional consensus on the future of Interstate 81. By a two-to-one margin, residents prefer maintaining a high-speed option — either repairing or replacing I -81 along it’s urgent route or a tunnel/hybrid solution. Only one-third of respondents think a stand-alone community grid is viable or reasonable.
About Save81.org:
Save81.org is a diverse coalition of concerned residents, elected officials, employers, union members and community groups that have united as officials in Albany determine how to deal with the aging portions of Interstate 81 in Syracuse. Save81.org opposes a plan being considered to replace I-81 in Downtown Syracuse with a boulevard that would divert interstate traffic away from the city and leave traffic congestion and air pollution in its place.
For more information, visit Save81.org
