#community grid

[mikejaffa]

Well, it’s dry reading, but NYSDOT and the FHWA have published the Record of the Decision, and it’s the Community Grid.   Now the bad news:  there’s a 150 day window for lawsuits.  That means Pyramid’s grandstadning lawyer may want his day in court, even if it accomplishes nothing.

Worse news:  Republican candidate for governor Lee Zeldin has yet to say anything.  Nor has any other prominent Republican.  But if he beats Kathy Hochul in November, it’s anybody’s guess if he will allow construction to continue or, at the insistence of Pyramid(’s pet politicians), throws a monkey wrench in the works.  

But still, we got to this point.  Whew!  

[mikejaffa]

Save81 has returned to one of its old talking points of the grid making it impossible for traffic to reach the Dome.  Several points come to mind:   1.  They talk about 43,000 cars going through what is now the Van Buren roundabout.  Where does that number come from?  First, it would be per day, not all at once, and even then, the 43,000 might be a math mistake.  As you can see from the diagrams in the linked PDF, someone probably took a number on one segment during PEAK hours and multiplied by 24.  But “peak” means that would be rush hour.  Before and after that time, the numbers would be lower.  That’s why the daily total wouldn’t add up to 43,000.

2.  The roundabout is now ideally situated for people coming from the south on BL81, since they will turn right.  People from the north, east, or west would get off 690 at Crouse or Irving and go south on those streets.  So anyone on Almond St. north of the roundabout would probably not have to deal with it.  

Once again, Save81 spreads misinformation even when the answers to it are publicly available.  

[mikejaffa]

After being quiet for more than a week, Save81 popped back to life going on about how traffic to the Carrier Dome would be a nightmare on the grid.  

The irony is that the DOT moved the roundabout to the intersection with Van Buren, right by the dome.  So, people from the south would take I-81 to BL81 and turn right on the roundabout.

Of course, people from the north, east, or west, would get off 690 at Crouse and Irving and take those streets south.  

[mikejaffa]

I-81 replacement roundabout moved by DOT from MLK to Van Buren Street

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — The State Department of Transportation credits community feedback with the decision to move the I-81’s replacement roundabout on Syracuse’s Southside fr…

They’re moving the roundabout...and this is where I may be talking out my behind, because the rendering looks as if the land north of MLK MAY NOT be available for development.  I don’t know if that’s true.  But if it is, that’s also a nail in the coffin of the community-grid-is-just-a-land-grab theory.  Then again, if I’m wrong, I’m wrong.  

[mikejaffa]

Round and Round...

Save81′s latest reused talking point about the community grid is about the roundabout that was planned to be near MLK elementary school.  I say “was” because it was reported TWO MONTHS AGO that NYSDOT wants to move it.  But they found a video that purports chaos happened when drivers came upon Kentucky’s first ever roundabout.  

Except that’s not what that video is about.

The video was produced by Walker Construction, who built the roundabout, to show how not to use it.  Here is their link on Facebook... https://www.facebook.com/102059874497105/videos/1675563852647082

If you click on “Overview” it clearly says it’s how not to use it.  Traffic was flagged.  In other words, those vehicles are doing that DELIBERATELY.

They did another video that shows the roundabout closer to completion and traffic moving normally:

https://www.facebook.com/walker/videos/456870328911831

I would love to know how it looks now.  Probably a lot of signs and no confustion.

Of course, the people who turned the first video into an internet meme never bothered to check the details (or ignored them), and for its own purposes, Save81 either didn’t do due diligence or did and chose to lie anyway.  

But that is reality.  The real world is a nice place to visit.  You should come here sometime.  

[mikejaffa]

State DOT considering moving roundabout further away from elementary school as part of I-81 plan

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — The State Department of Transportation is considering alternative locations for the roundabout initially planned near Dr. King Elementary School as part of the I-81…

Even though roundabouts are safer than 4-way intersections, the DOT has been thinking of where to move the roundabout they wanted to put at the corner of MLK, but you wouldn’t know it from reading Save81′s Facebook page.  They remain obsessed with the roundabout’s original location.  They also keep pushing the Skybridge as a “consensus solution,” even though no one outside the anti-grid people is pushing it.  Oh, and the only “south side street” involved is Almond between MLK and Adams.  They seem to be ignoring reality and pushing propaganda.  The sad thing is it could work.  

[mikejaffa]

So in the community grid alternative of the New York State Department of Transportation's viaduct alternative for the I-81 viaduct project, how does the grid “disperse traffic”?

It’s simple.  Anyone coming in from the south on Business Loop 81 (BL81) are doing one of five things:  going downtown, going to SU, leaving that part of town on a regular street, continuing on BL81, or getting on 690.   And since the high speed access points for 690 and BL81 are not lined up north to south, anyone coming from the south turns off Almond St.  To continue on BL81, go up Pearl St or get on 690 at Irving and get on BL81.  To get on 690, go to Crouse and Irving or West St.