The $2 billion project to replace the Interstate 81 span with a community grid in downtown Syracuse is the largest single project ever undertaken by New York State’s Department of Transportation.

Lanessa Chaplin, of the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), told Capital Tonight on Thursday that the replacement plan must be the result of community input, with a particular focus on the concerns of the people who live adjacent to the span.

Khalid Bey, a member of the Syracuse Common Council and president pro-tem, as well as the Democratic nominee for Syracuse mayor, told Capital Tonight that he and others will be sending in public comment to the DOT regarding where the bridge is slated to be disassembled.

“There’s been an effort by many of us who are in elected office, and I think NYCLU as well, to get the state to consider moving the ramp further down, to ensure that kids at the Dr. King school, and pedestrian traffic, can navigate safely,” he said.

Bey discussed the I-81 project, the distrust residents of the 15th Ward have for state government and other aspects of the span with Capital Tonight.