Syracuse city officials to hold off on closing East Adams Street section
Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.
Syracuse politicians call for SUNY Upstate Medical University Hospital to hold off on its request to close off a section of East Adams Street for construction of an expanded emergency services room. The request comes due to traffic concerns for residents and hospital patients, syracuse.com reported.
The hospital is asking city officials to approve a $450 million annex to take over the 800 block of East Adams Street for a larger emergency room and burn unit. If approved, construction would take place minutes away from Syracuse University’s campus.
Upstate Hospital’s campaign for an expanded ER comes from an effort to improve an emergency room that struggles with overcrowding and long wait times. The construction plan also puts four of the Upstate University’s campus buildings at risk of being demolished.
The final decision on the closing of East Adams Street falls on Syracuse Mayor Sharon Owens and the Syracuse Common Council.
Owens understands the need for an expanded ER at Upstate University Hospital but doesn’t think it’s a decision that can be rushed, syracuse.com reported.
“We need to look at the whole, not just one block of the road,” Councilor Jimmy Monto, whose committee would have to approve abandoning the road, told syracuse.com.
Multiple parties expressed concern about the resulting traffic of the potential ER project. The New York Department of Transportation said the project would increase traffic near the Salt City Market, while the neighboring Crouse Hospital said it would cause “disastrous delays” for its emergency patients, according to syracuse.com.
Upstate argues that the expansion would save time for its emergency patients and that the alternative plan, which would involve constructing a skybridge over East Adams Street, would lead to worse patient care.
The plan’s intersection with the I-81 demolition and reconstruction has complicated the city’s analysis.
Syracuse assemblyman William Magnarelli argued against replacing the elevated I-81 due to higher reliance on Syracuse streets.
“When they redid I-81, did they envision this?” Magnarelli told syracuse.com. “It threw a monkey wrench into everything. So now we have to see.”
Onondaga County Legislator and Democratic nominee for state assembly Mo Brown urged the common council to seek public input in its decision.
“Have public meetings, get public input,” Brown told syracuse.com. “I think this is the beginning of the process, not the end.”
