Revolutionary Road

By Kate Pennington

In his City Hall office, Syracuse Common Councilor Van Robinson talks about the city. He mentions the citizens, the schools, the businesses — but not with the words of a politician. Rather, his words seem to come from a friend, a neighbor. He came to Syracuse just over 40 years ago and never left. He is tall, at least 6 feet 4 inches, but isn’t intimidating. The faint wrinkle lines at the creases of his eyes and corners of his mouth prove he smiles a lot. In fact, he radiates optimism. He is a retired New York City businessman turned Syracuse politician. In Syracuse, he is known for his innovative ideas. Many call him a dreamer.

Robinson voiced his most recent dream six years ago: tearing down the elevated three-mile stretch of Interstate 81 that had been built through the heart of Syracuse. “It’s the Berlin Wall of Syracuse,” he said. Robinson remembers when he first came to the city in 1968. He drove south on I-81 and missed the Adams Street exit to the then-Hotel Syracuse, so he proceeded to the Brighton Avenue exit. “When I circled back around, I saw that the highway divided the city in half,” he said. “I wondered why the city would have built the structure that way.”

Since her arrival at Syracuse University five years ago, Chancellor Nancy Cantor has been on a mission to connect the Hill with downtown Syracuse. The chancellor’s main projects — the Connective Corridor and the slogan “Scholarship in Action” — were conceptualized to do just that. And while many on campus support these efforts, there is one huge obstacle in the way: I-81.

Heading downtown, I-81 looms in the distance. The thick gray beams mute what little sun reaches the city. There is no plant life, no greenery, no color. Instead, there is dirt, pollution, and noise. The overpass forms a dark shadow that forewarns drivers of the passage between worlds. I-81 creates a physical and psychological barrier for the citizens of Syracuse because it separates the thriving Hill area from the rest of the city.

But now that the overpass has reached the end of its 50-year lifespan, the time has come to plan I-81’s future. Steve Beuchner, a Syracuse landscape architect, planner, and real estate developer, would like to see the Interstate turn into an underground highway. Others envision it as a ground level boulevard. Currently, the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) and the Syracuse Metropolitan Transportation Council (SMTC) are conducting studies that test how the changes to I-81 will affect all aspects of the city, from transportation to the environment to citizens. These studies will last approximately two years. James D’Agostino, director of the SMTC, hopes concepts for the Interstate will be narrowed down into a concrete plan within five years. The University is not currently included in any official discussion about the renovation of I-81, but Peter Englot, director of strategic initiatives at SU, predicts the University will take part when concepts evolve into plans.

If all goes well, the reconstruction of I-81 could be complete in an estimated 10 years. “Right now we are in the giant-blue-sky scoping phase,” D’Agostino said. This is the phase when history will be made, and hopefully, past mistakes will not be repeated.

In the 1950s, Syracuse was a bustling metropolis. People flocked to Syracuse and businesses followed, thus increasing its population to 220,000. But there was a countervailing trend. After World War II ended, cities across the nation faced rapid change. People suddenly had more money. They bought cars and started migrating out of cities to nearby towns; they needed room and space to support their newfound, white-picket-fence dreams. To stem the flow of exiting residents, cities took advantage of the Federal Urban Renewal Program, which supported the development of public urban centers and interstate highways to deter fleeing city-dwellers. Syracuse was no different. The Syracuse corridor of I-81 was conceived in 1958, and almost fully completed by 1964. Construction of the I-81 section that ran through Syracuse was a quick, top-down decision executed with little public input.

Aaron Knight, who graduated from SU in 2007, analyzed the construction of I-81 for his honors capstone thesis. Knight said I-81 was built in a hurry at a time when nervous politicians believed constructing expressways, at the expense of bulldozing neighborhoods, would solve most civic problems.

Knight explained that the original plan proposed I-81 would run below street level beside Townsend Street. But to avoid tearing down some of Syracuse’s most historic buildings, it was moved east over Almond Street. In the 855-mile stretch of I-81, Syracuse is the only large city through which the Interstate runs. Many Syracuse politicians thought I-81 would make it easier for people to enter the city, but in reality, it expedited their retreat. Since the completion of I-81, Syracuse has lost more than 70,000 residents.

Some community members protested I-81 from the start, and eerily predicted what would happen to Syracuse should an elevated highway be built through its center. Anthony A. Henninger, then mayor of Syracuse, staunchly opposed the Interstate. He said I-81 would imprison downtown Syracuse and prevent future growth in the city. When the The Post-Standard heard about the planned elevated highway, it immediately initiated an aggressive public relations campaign against it. “It requires little exercise of the imagination to realize what endless damage would be done,” a Post-Standard editorial on April 13, 1958, read. “By shutting off light and air, by depressing property values and by their ugliness, these gruesome barriers cause and spread blight.”

Since the elevated highway has been a part of the city for five decades and used by about 100,000 motorists each day, many locals can’t imagine the city without it. Few people would protest the idea of more greenery and more parks with birds singing. But people are creatures of habit, and many wonder what they might lose in the lofty proposals. Perhaps that is why Robinson’s colleagues and community members alike called him crazy when he proposed tearing down I-81.

Or perhaps citizens are afraid that history will simply repeat itself, regardless of what shape the new structure takes. Mike Atkins’ neighborhood was destroyed during the original construction of I-81. He lived in the old 15th Ward, once a hub of Syracuse’s black community, where nearly 1,300 residents were displaced by the Interstate. Many of the residents of the 15th Ward, the area from Erie Boulevard south to Burt Street, relocated to either the Southside around Colvin Street or the Eastside around East Fayette Street. Atkins and his family were relocated from Townsend Street to the then largely-white Southside. Atkins, once a city councilor, still vividly remembers the devastation I-81 caused to the 15th Ward. He recalls that the district was a hub of business and residential life. “We could walk to school. You knew your next door neighbor,” Atkins explained. “Then they started relocating people and tearing down businesses. It destroyed a comprehensive neighborhood.”

It’s those little yet unforgettable moments that have shaped the person Atkins is today. He remembers how it felt to walk into the cafeteria in a new school with hundreds of unfamiliar eyes focused on him as he passed, and pick a seat at a table by himself. In the mid-60s Atkins transferred from a predominately black school to an almost all-white school where he felt unwelcome. The original I-81 planners did not consider preservation of neighborhoods when building the highway, especially not in low-income neighborhoods.

Today, the old 15th Ward area is better known for its employers, such as Upstate Medical University, Presidential Plaza, Townsend Towers, and the Public Safety Building, but some people still live there. Atkins fears these residents will suffer the same fate his family did. “Who will it benefit?” he asked. “Businesspeople will be able to walk to parks and sit and eat and so forth, but many of them don’t even live in the city of Syracuse. You make things pleasant for them, but what about the residents, the low-income people who have lived there [for] their whole lives? Will their voices be heard?” Atkins insists that the city should consider the new wave of displacement that would likely occur with any form of reconstruction.

The two main institutions heading projects for I-81 — the NYSDOT and SMTC — are careful not to let history repeat itself. “We have to listen to the community and take into account what the community sees for itself and wants for itself,” said Bill Egloff, a civil engineer and project manager for the NYSDOT’s Syracuse office. “We simply can’t do it the way it was done in the past.” To avoid past mistakes, the NYSDOT and SMTC are first and foremost taking time to research the project. They are conducting three two-year studies: a transportation study, a public participation study, and a computer simulation study that will test different plans for I-81 when they are developed.

This time around, the most important difference in the government’s procedure is its promise to accept public input. D’Agostino is in charge of running a community-based study to make the reconstruction of I-81 “as inclusive as possible.” D’Agostino will hold public meetings to educate community members on the transformation of I-81, ask for suggestions, and listen to concerns. The NYSDOT and SMTC say they are willing to take any measures to involve all community members. “We are not just going to have a meeting in a government building at 10 a.m. when everyone is at work,” Egloff said. “We have to take into account the folks who don’t normally participate, and that’s our toughest nut to crack.” To reach all community members, the SMTC is reaching out to activists in the community and local church groups, sending direct mailings, and holding meetings at convenient times.

Government officials and organizations in charge of planning for I-81 realize the importance of involving the community in the decision-making process because the reconstruction could be a turning point in Syracuse’s history. Other than the DOT and SMTC, there are several other organizations dedicated to finding the best reconstruction model for the Interstate. The Onondaga Citizens League, for example, has run case studies on other cities in the U.S. that have also experienced changes in major interstates. “We think there should be many other things taken into account other than just moving cars, like the connectivity between downtown and the Hill area,” said Sandra Barrett, executive vice president of OCL. “Thinking about how best to make a more attractive environment...things like sustainability, pedestrians, bicyclists, transit.”

Although the fate of the Interstate remains undefined, Robinson trusts it will be an improvement. “With the talents we have witnessed already so early in this process, I know we don’t have to worry about the future,” Robinson said. Fidgeting in his chair a bit, Robinson looked out of his office window, as if envisioning the city in a decade. “Whatever form the Interstate takes, it is going to bring people back into the city,” he said. With more people, Robinson predicts the downtown area will become more vibrant, which will attract more business and revitalize the city. But maybe he’s just a dreamer.

Visit the Jerk Magazine Blog to discuss your thoughts on I-81.