‘Very encouraging’: Walsh pitches $2 billion I-81 project to Pete Buttigieg’s DOT team

Syracuse, N.Y. — The state’s $2 billion plans to transform Interstate 81 could prove an archetypal example of how a federal highway project can both solve transportation problems and rebuild city neighborhoods that lost out when the massive roadways were built. That’s the feeling that Mayor Ben Walsh said he had today after meeting for an hour with two members of U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s staff. “Overall it was very encouraging,” Walsh said this evening. “They see I-81 as a prime candidate for a demonstration on how to do federal transportation projects the right way.” The meeting comes as…