Syracuse, N.Y. – Surrounded by three dozen elected officials, union leaders and others, a nervous Ladan Osman stepped up to the microphone as cars and trucks rolled by on an elevated highway roughly 30 yards behind her.
Osman joined other tenants and public officials Tuesday to reiterate their support for tearing down the Interstate 81 viaduct on Syracuse’s South Side and to condemn the legal challenge that has tied up the project in court.
Osman, who has lived in public housing near I-81 for 13 years, said she and other tenants are concerned about the health effects from the viaduct’s noise and air emissions.
“The highway must come down,’’ she said. “It’s time to make it happen.”
That was the plan until a lawsuit in state Supreme Court halted work on the I-81 project this month.
The state transportation department gave final approval earlier this year, after years of study, for a $2.25 billion plan to remove the 1.4-mile viaduct through the South Side and divert most of the traffic around the city on Interstate 481. Travel within the city would be augmented with a “community grid” of improved streets.
But a group called Renew 81 for All this month won a temporary restraining order while it presses its case against the plan in state Supreme Court. The group claims that replacing the viaduct with a street-level community grid will negatively impact the environment in myriad ways.
Ladan Osman smiles after speaking out in support for the community grid plan to replace I-81 in Syracuse. Osman has lived in public housing near the aging highway for 13 years. A lawsuit opposing the grid temporarily halted progress to remove the highway and begin the project. Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022. (Katrina Tulloch | ktulloch@syracuse.com)
Today a crowd of local, state and national elected officials, mostly Democrats, gathered on the basketball court at Wilson Park in response to the lawsuit.
Speaking at Wilson Park on Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., criticized the Renew 81 lawsuit for delaying a “monumental project.’’ She pointed out that the state transportation department studied the issue for a decade before choosing the community grid option.
“The normal basis for this kind of delay is that all options haven’t been heard. That’s just not true in this case. All options have been considered and heard and debated at length,’’ she said.
Mayor Ben Walsh, who attended the news conference but did not speak publicly, said beforehand that he was dismayed by the “constant delay tactics’' exercised by opponents of the community grid. Besides stalling the project, the lawsuit causes confusion and frustration for the public, said Walsh, a political independent.
“What’s important now is that we make sure that the voices of the community continue to be heard and that we do everything in our power to keep the project moving forward,’’ he said.
As the event wound down, one of the people responsible for the Renew 81 lawsuit stood off to the side of the basketball court, waiting for his turn with reporters. Onondaga County Legislator Charles Garland, a South Side Democrat, is one of eight plaintiffs in the Renew 81 case.
Garland insisted that the state DOT has not adequately studied the health effects and other environmental impacts of the community grid. He has argued that the state needs some way to keep highway traffic moving through Syracuse, such as a 70-foot-high sky bridge that he and others have suggested. Transportation officials have dismissed that idea as unworkable.
“There’s no reason we can’t come back to the table and compromise,’’ Garland said.
Onondaga County Legislator Charles Garland stands near the aging I-81 viaduct in Syracuse. Garland has said the community grid plan has been misrepresented as something that will help residents of the South Side. (Katrina Tulloch)
The Renew 81 lawsuit claims, among other things, that forcing vehicles to drive extra miles around the city or through local streets would cause extra emissions, promote sprawl and negatively impact various communities.
The group says the state did not follow the proper environmental review process by taking a “hard look” at viable alternatives with less adverse environmental impacts.
Oral arguments are scheduled for Jan. 12.
Gillibrand said she and other officials remain committed to creating the community grid.
“Today we stand united with this community because we and they are fighting to keep this project on track. And we will do whatever it takes to get it across the finish line,’’ she said.
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