Syracuse, N.Y. -- In pitching his $2 trillion infrastructure plan today, President Joe Biden mentioned the proposed teardown of part of Interstate 81 here as an example of a transportation project that could rebuild communities.
“Too often, past transportation investments divided communities – like the Claiborne Expressway in New Orleans or I-81 in Syracuse – or it left out the people most in need of affordable transportation options,” the White House statement said explaining the massive proposal.
As part of that effort, Biden is proposing to earmark $20 billion for a new program that will reconnect neighborhoods, such as in Syracuse.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-Brooklyn, immediately praised the mention of the Syracuse project inside the president’s plan.
“It is wonderful for Syracuse that President Biden listened to us and included the vital I-81 reformation as a poster child for enlightened infrastructure policy, calling for new investment to help communities pay for tearing down urban highways to reconnect and transform neighborhoods previously left behind,” Schumer said in a written statement.
State transportation officials are proposing to tear down the elevated portion of I-81 that runs between downtown and the University Hill area. The $2 billion plan would reroute highway traffic onto nearby Interstate 481 and rebuild part of Interstate 690 that crosses downtown.
It wasn’t immediately clear how Biden’s proposal would affect the ongoing planning by the state.
Currently, the Federal Highway Administration is reviewing the state’s plans. Another iteration of that proposal is expected to be released, which will then go through another round of public comments.
Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh has met with U.S. Department of Transportation officials about the project.
Last week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he has heard about the I-81 project “loud and clear.”
The comments came during a congressional hearing, after Rep. John Katko, R-Camillus, asked Buttigieg about the Syracuse project.
“I’ve got a stack of letters on this,” Buttigieg said. “It’s a community that reminds me a lot of home,” said the former mayor of South Bend, Ind.
Buttigieg said he didn’t have an immediate update on the project. Katko invited the secretary to come to Syracuse to see the aging highway.
Today, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., also applauded Biden’s proposal, saying this type of infrastructure investment can also repair damage made decades ago that often sacrificed Black neighborhoods and business districts in return for highway construction.
“I applaud President Biden’s commitment to these issues and his infrastructure plan’s inclusion of critical funding to reconnect communities of color and underserved communities that have historically been excluded from infrastructure investments,” she said in a statement.
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