SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The state transportation department has named the “community grid” its preferred choice for Interstate 81, according to a document the state posted online.

“Based on a balanced consideration of the need for safe and efficient transportation; the social, economic, and environmental effects of the project alternatives; and national, state, and local environmental protection goals, the Community Grid Alternative would be selected as the preferred alternative,” according to the document.

The document is part of a draft environmental impact statement, which is thousands of pages long, and evaluates alternatives for the 1.4-mile section of highway. It’s the biggest construction project here in decades.

The “community grid” could cost between $1.9 billion and $2.2 billion, according to updated estimates from the DOT. It would be redesignated a “business loop" through the city, according to maps provided in the DEIS.

The state’s preferred alternative in the DEIS is not the end of the process. There are still numerous public hearings to be held before a final environmental statement and a record of decision that will ultimately seal the highway’s fate.

The highway has reached the end of the lifespan it was designed for when it was built in the 1950s, and it has a higher accident rate than similar stretches of highway nationally. It also no longer conforms to federal highway standards, specifically because it does not have shoulders for accidents.

The highway’s construction also displaced a historically African-American neighborhood called the 15th Ward in a city with among the nation’s highest rates of poverty and segregation.

The grid option would result in the full or partial acquisition of 136 parcels of land in the heart of Syracuse, totaling 24.36 acres. That includes 125 parcels totaling 18.72 acres in Syracuse, in addition to nine in the town of Cicero and two in DeWitt.

The DEIS also rejected, again, the idea of building a tunnel to replace Interstate 81 here. It was looking specifically at a tunnel possibility recommended by WSP, a private firm, in an independent study that cost $2 million.

That tunnel plan would not accomplish the I-81 project’s objective to “maintain or enhance the vehicular, pedestrian, and bicycle connections in the local street network within the project limits in and near Downtown Syracuse to allow for connectivity,” according to the DEIS.

The tunnel option would also cost $4.9 billion and take 11 years to complete, which is “considered unreasonable. Therefore, the Orange tunnel concept is dismissed from further study," the state wrote.

Mayor Ben Walsh, in a statement, said he hopes Central New York residents look closely at the DEIS in the coming days of public comments.

“I am very glad that the DEIS is out, and I’m pleased that it identifies the Community Grid as the preferred alternative,” Walsh said.

Under the “grid” option, the elevated viaduct would be taken down. Almond Street would be reconstructed as a boulevard with bicycle and pedestrian lanes, as well as a planted median about 18 to 29 feet wide, according to the DEIS.

Traffic would be dispersed along the existing street grid. Along Almond Street, there would be widened sidewalks, bicycle lanes and raised cycle tracks.

The new Almond Street would also provide car access to all existing intersections, though only right turns would be possible to Madison Street and to and from Monroe Street, according to the DEIS.

What is now Interstate 481 would be re-designated as Interstate 81 and carry at least four lanes of traffic, two in each direction, of through traffic. The highway will also have to be modified to accommodate the existing traffic, according to the DEIS.

Modifications include ensuring the interchanges with current I-81 at the north and south to meet design standards required for traffic traveling at 70 mph.

Members of Save81, a group that has organized against the “community grid” alternative, said they will hire a professional for “independent” evaluation of the DEIS.

“We reiterate our support for uniting all segments of this community by maintaining Interstate 81’s current alignment in one form or another,” the group said in a statement.

Read our complete coverage of the I-81 project.