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Aerial view of downtown Syracuse, N.Y., facing northeast toward I-81 and the Carrier Dome on the Syracuse University campus.

( Lauren Long | llong@syracuse.com)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - A tunnel option is one of four concepts that New York highway officials will study as a replacement to Interstate 81 through Syracuse,.

The four options include: a tunnel, a community grid (similar to the boulevard option), a new viaduct or a no-build option (which is required by the feds).

The state rejected any tunnel ideas offered so far, including the Syracuse Access Plan backed by Destiny USA. But it pledged to keep the concept in consideration.

The decision, released today, reverses a previous recommendation from the same state and federal highway officials who last year deemed a tunnel to be too expensive and complicated.

But today's report also points out that any tunnel now under consideration will not be the same as ideas already studied by DOT. That could likely mean the so-called "hybrid" option -- a shorter tunnel on I-81's current pathway -- made it to the next round.

This is all according to the "scoping" report, a formal document released this afternoon from the state's Department of Transportation.

It does not mean any tunnel is the final, or winning, pick. Nor does it rank any of the three other basic options as best or worst. This report marks the beginning of that process.

Here's more from the DOT's release about the four options now under consideration:

* No-Build Alternative - This would maintain the highway in its existing configuration while providing routine maintenance and minor repairs. A "No Build" option is required under federal environmental laws in order to serve as a baseline comparison for the other alternatives.

* Viaduct - This would involve replacing the elevated section of highway.

* Community Grid - This would reroute traffic from the interstate around the city and weave it into the existing street grid to enhance traffic flow.

* Tunnel - This would route traffic through a tunnel. However, none of the four tunnel alternatives presented in the Draft Scoping Report met the project's screening criteria. NYSDOT will conduct more engineering and analysis to find if there's a workable tunnel idea.

I-81 Scoping Report from NY Dept. of Transportation