Syracuse I‑81 Removal

Syracuse’s I‑81 was built in the 1950s and 1960s result­ing in the destruc­tion of the 15th ward and is now reach­ing the end of its oper­a­tional life. In recent years, offi­cials have been in debate over what the next steps should be for this infra­struc­ture. The 1.4‑mile stretch of the ele­vat­ed inter­state was con­struct­ed over and through the 15th ward which was a neigh­bor­hood con­tain­ing 90% of Syracuse’s black pop­u­la­tion in the 1950s and was a com­mu­ni­ty of fam­i­lies, busi­ness­es, and one of New York State’s first pub­lic hous­ing projects. This ward was demol­ished to accom­mo­date the inter­state leav­ing 1,300 fam­i­lies dis­placed and black-owned busi­ness­es destroyed. After con­struc­tion, pre­vi­ous res­i­dents of the ward were lim­it­ed to spe­cif­ic hous­ing dis­tricts and suf­fered from the numer­ous health and envi­ron­men­tal effects of prox­im­i­ty to an interstate. 

The inter­state was built dur­ing a time of rapid infra­struc­tur­al devel­op­ment in the nation, and city plan­ners were quick to accept the fund­ing for con­struct­ing the I‑81 to cut through the mid­dle of the city out of fear the fund­ing would go else­where and in the hope it would spur growth and eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment in down­town. The inter­state did not bring growth to down­town but instead brought traf­fic to more afflu­ent sub­urbs that are pre­dom­i­nant­ly white. With the I‑81 divid­ing the city, it leaves Syra­cuse ranked among the most seg­re­gat­ed metro areas in the country. 

As I‑81 ages, new hopes are aris­ing for repair­ing the his­tor­i­cal dam­age to the Syra­cuse com­mu­ni­ty by tear­ing down the viaduct and replac­ing it with a street-lev­el grid. This deci­sion has come after years of debate over the best way to han­dle the crum­bling infra­struc­ture with pre­vi­ous options includ­ing keep­ing the inter­state but widen­ing the bridges to meet new stan­dards or build­ing a tun­nel near the cur­rent bridges. In 2021, the New York State Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion (NYSDOT) released a draft plan to replace the inter­state with a boule­vard and make inter­state 481 the new I‑81. This draft report is now a final report after being changed to accom­mo­date over 8,000 com­ments from com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers regard­ing their ques­tions, wish­es, and goals for the project.

This $2.25 bil­lion project will be fund­ed by the NYSDOT and Fed­er­al High­way Admin­is­tra­tion and hopes to heal wounds in affect­ed com­mu­ni­ties, spur eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment, and rede­fine an urban core. This urban core would have the poten­tial to offer more con­ve­nient tran­sit, diver­si­fy land uses, and offer afford­able hous­ing. Syra­cuse city plan­ners are cur­rent­ly work­ing with a pri­vate foun­da­tion that has devel­oped an $800 mil­lion plan to rede­vel­op impact­ed com­mu­ni­ties by con­struct­ing pub­lic hous­ing near the high­way. The cur­rent plan for I‑81 con­struc­tion includes two dis­tinct phas­es. Phase one will be rebuild­ing the I‑481 around the east side of Syra­cuse and renam­ing it I‑81 where high-speed traf­fic will trav­el. The sec­ond phase will be tear­ing down the old I‑81 and send­ing slow­er traf­fic to the street-lev­el main cor­ri­dor and renam­ing the con­struc­tion as Busi­ness Loop 81. 

Plans for tear­ing down I‑81 have faced con­cerns from local groups, includ­ing Renew 81 for All, who have con­cerns about deal­ing with increased traf­fic, reroutes for semi-trucks, longer trav­el times, diverg­ing costs and traf­fic to sub­ur­ban areas, and a new wave of gen­tri­fi­ca­tion. While con­struc­tion was expect­ed to begin in the Fall of 2023 and last for six years, the project has been halt­ed with Renew 81 for All fil­ing a law­suit in Sep­tem­ber 2022 that has been grant­ed and is still await­ing a deci­sion. The groups’ claims include the new project would either divert trucks through local streets or up to 22 miles around Syra­cuse caus­ing envi­ron­men­tal impacts. With the Syra­cuse metro area hav­ing 20,000 res­i­dents liv­ing near major high­ways the health impacts from traf­fic pol­lu­tion are a major con­cern for com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers, espe­cial­ly those in minor­i­ty neigh­bor­hoods who already deal with high­er rates of chron­ic res­pi­ra­to­ry dis­eases. The group also claims the project plan failed to com­ply with the state’s Envi­ron­men­tal Qual­i­ty Review Act. The group is not against the progress the project offers but does want to com­pro­mise and has pro­posed anoth­er ele­vat­ed highway. 

As the courts await their deci­sions, some com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers find the news of the law­suit pos­i­tive as it allows for deep­er atten­tion to the project, acknowl­edges any holes that might detri­men­tal­ly impact com­mu­ni­ties, and pre­vents his­to­ry from repeat­ing itself. Some believe that the issue of traf­fic pol­lu­tion is not being resolved and will still be affect­ing dis­ad­van­taged indi­vid­u­als, so no progress is being made. Oth­ers dis­like the law­suit as they believe it is pre­vent­ing change from hap­pen­ing while the infra­struc­ture con­tin­ues to crum­ble. Syracuse’s I‑81 demon­strates the impli­ca­tions of trans­porta­tion, its effects on the com­mu­ni­ty, and how it can be an oppor­tu­ni­ty to fix the mis­takes in the past for a more inclu­sive future. 

CEE sub­jects: Con­struc­tion Engi­neer­ing and Man­age­ment, Envi­ron­men­tal Pol­i­cy and Sus­tain­able Infra­struc­ture, Trans­porta­tion Engineering

Com­ments: This is an ongo­ing issue but has lots of resources due to the prox­im­i­ty and inter­est of Syra­cuse University.

• What do you think should be done about the I‑81?
• Why is inclu­sion and equi­ty impor­tant in design­ing trans­porta­tion infrastructure?
• What kind of analy­ses, poli­cies, or tech­nol­o­gy should be imple­ment­ed to ensure what­ev­er deci­sions for I‑81 are going to be the best/most inclusive?
• The I‑81 is part of America’s aging trans­porta­tion infra­struc­ture with a larg­er oppor­tu­ni­ty to rev­o­lu­tion­ize the nation’s trans­porta­tion path­ways. What would you like to be con­sid­ered in the future for improved trans­porta­tion? Why are you choos­ing your ideas and how do they impact oth­ers and the environment?
• It should be not­ed that the I‑81 was built dur­ing a time where car own­er­ship was increas­ing in the com­mu­ni­ty. While there was oth­er fac­tors in decid­ing to build the high­way, do you think it was inclu­sive to build the high­way know­ing car own­er­ship was on the rise?

• Pop­u­lar media/news references 
  • Syracuse’s ele­vat­ed I‑81 will dis­ap­pear and be replaced with grid, offi­cials put in writ­ing today
  • THE I‑81 STORY
  • .Judge orders halt to work on tear­down of Inter­state 81 through Syracuse
  • Here’s what the first part of Syracuse’s I‑81 con­struc­tion will look like (maps)
  • Next Exit: Syra­cuse and Envi­ron­men­tal Justice
  • A City Faces Its ‘Berlin Wall’: An Inter­state Highway
  • Remov­ing a high­way and recon­nect­ing a com­mu­ni­ty: I‑81 and Syra­cuse, NY
  • Renck­ens, Eliz­a­beth. “Pol­i­tics and Plan­ning of the I‑81 Cor­ri­dor in Syra­cuse, New York.” (2012).
  • The Dai­ly Orange: Law­suit against I‑81’s take­down has neg­a­tive effects Syra­cuse needs to be aware of

• Doc­u­men­tary
  • “The I‑81 Project: Then and Now” — Kris­ten Eskow Hon­ors Cap­stone Documentary