This article, from the Syracuse Post-Standard website, underscores how the building of highways through cities during the era of Urban Renewal, was profoundly short-sighted and destructive of urban life. Most often, the victims were African-American or white ethnic communities with limited political power. In Syracuse, the construction of I-81 destroyed the predominantly African-American 15th Ward. Can we take down I-81 and will doing so at least partially undo the damage caused by its construction?
Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivers remarks at the Sustainable Development & Collaborative Governance Conference Thursday at the Hotel Syracuse in Syracuse. (Darren McGee | Office of the Governor)
By Rick Moriarty | rmoriarty@syracuse.com
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on August 11, 2016 at 2:22 PM, updated August 12, 2016 at 11:39 AM
Syracuse, N.Y. — Wondering which way Gov. Andrew Cuomo is leaning on the future of Interstate 81’s elevated pathway through Syracuse? Wonder no more.
The governor, in an appearance Thursday at the Hotel Syracuse, spoke favorably about tearing down the elevated highway and called its construction more than half a century ago a “blunder.”
“That could be a transformative project that really jump-starts the entire region,” he said of getting rid of the elevated highway. “I-81 did a lot of damage — a classic planning blunder. Let’s build a road and bisect an entire community. That’s an idea, yeah, let me write it down.”
Cuomo expressed frustration over the fact no decision has been made about the future of the highway after years of debate in the community.
“We procrastinate,” he said. “We wait for everyone to agree. You know when that day is going to come? Never. Never. If you wait for the perfect, you’re never going to get there. You will do nothing. And that’s just what we’ve done on I-81. We’ve done nothing. Find the best solution with the most agreement and move forward.”
Critics of the elevated highway say it cuts the city in half, forming a wall between one of its greatest assets, University Hill, and downtown Syracuse. Proponents of keeping the highway include hotels and other businesses who worry that replacing it with a surface-level boulevard or tunnel would disrupt their businesses.
Cuomo spoke about I-81 during his opening remarks at a conference his office sponsored on sustainable economic development and collaborative governance.
He did not say whether he favored replacing the highway with a boulevard or tunnel. He left the conference immediately after delivering his remarks and did not stop to take questions from reporters.
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