Graduation is one of the busiest weekends of the year for the Syracuse community and area businesses along the Connective Corridor look forward to welcoming families from around the globe for commencement festivities.

While Connective Corridor streetscape construction is visibly underway, the project team is working hard to have major improvements in place this week, and is coordinating with area businesses to ensure that the visitor experience this coming weekend will be an enjoyable one.   Streets and sidewalks will be open during the commencement visitor weekend with good pedestrian and vehicle access.  Businesses are open and there is ample parking in downtown.  Armory Square businesses particularly want visitors to know that they are partnering on this streetscape reconstruction and especially encourage visitors to come visit, shop and dine.

“We would like to congratulate the Class of 2014 and welcome their family and friends to Armory Square,” said Richard H. Sykes Jr., RHS Holdings, Inc., who is President of the Armory Business Association.  “With the coordination of Syracuse University and the Connective Corridor we hope that the transformation the area is currently undergoing shows the graduating Class of 2014 and their families that we are building for the future.”

Here are some handy tools to help explore downtown during commencement weekend:

• Downtown parking map
• Armory Square attractions
• Downtown Syracuse
• Historic Downtown Walking Tour
• Syracuse Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Arts and Cultural Calendar of Events

Visitors can get a preview of the Connective Corridor green complete streetscape initiative along phase one of the project which included University Avenue and East Genesee Street.  Phase two and three work is now underway along Genesee and Fayette Streets between McBride and West Streets, with much of the work currently occurring in the Armory Square district.

The Connective Corridor is a partnership between Syracuse University, the City of Syracuse and Onondaga County to construct complete and green streetscapes connecting University Hill and downtown. This is the largest civic infrastructure project in Syracuse in nearly 75 years, has won many design and engineering awards, and was the recipient of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Global Leadership Award.

Elements of the project include:

• Free Connective Corridor public transportation system with “smart buses” equipped with WiFi and onboard GPS, along with easy to use iOS and Android mobile apps
• New pedestrian and green bike paths, making the city more user friendly
• Extensive new landscaping and tree-lined corridors
• Redesigned public parks and urban spaces, and outdoor dining areas
• Innovative street lighting and illuminating iconic historic buildings
• Public art and interactive installations
• Large scale urban video projections at the Everson Museum Plaza by UVP / Light Work featuring work by national artists and a free outdoor summer film series
• Nearly 75 building facade projects underway or planned across the district
• Green infrastructure network that is one of the most sophisticated in the country, that will harvest and manage more than 22 millions of gallons of water annually
• Smart growth and sustainability initiative by the City, County and Syracuse University — all of which are national “green leaders”

For more information:  connectivecorridor.syr.edu