I-81 rally for jobs: Protesters want $2B project to benefit Syracuse people living near the highway

Syracuse, N.Y. — Ryedell Davis grew up next door to Interstate 81. His childhood home was in Tyler Court, in the shadow of the looming highway.

He says it changed his childhood. “I thought asthma was normal,” said Davis, who is 36 now.

As a kid, Davis said, he’d have to leave school repeatedly, sometimes going to a hospital for treatment. “I remember trying out for football,” he said. “That didn’t happen.”

But in middle school, his family moved to the Valley neighborhood. His asthma got better. By eighth grade, the asthma attacks were gone, a change he credits to better air and less traffic.

Now, Davis and others are calling on state and federal officials to use a proposed $2 billion highway project here to do more than reroute traffic.

They want that massive amount of money — and the jobs, rebuilding and development that will come with it — to make up for the challenges of living through the highway’s original construction and the noise and pollution that followed for decades.

“Every time I drive by a construction site, I don’t see anybody who looks like me,” said Deka Dancil, who is president of the Urban Jobs Task Force, a group working to secure a guaranteed percentage of I-81 jobs to people living in Syracuse.

Their calls today come just three days before officials hold four public hearings on the $2 billion highway plan. About 150 came to the march, which started at Dr. King school, stopped at Wilson Park near the highway overhang, and then moved through downtown to the state office building.

“No justice, no peace,” the marchers shouted in call-and-response rhythms. “No highway, relief.”

Most who rallied today want the highway to come down. But concerns remain about some of the plans, including the proposal to put a traffic circle near Dr. King Elementary School.

“I-81 has got to go,” said Lanessa Owens-Chaplin said. “However, it has to come down in a fair way.”

State and federal transportation officials have proposed to tear down a portion of I-81 in Syracuse and reroute highway traffic onto an expanded Interstate 481. A portion of Interstate 690 would also be rebuilt.

Gregory Myers lives on McBride Street. His front patio faces the highway bridges. When the protesters stopped at Wilson Park about a block from his front door, he came over to see what was happening.

“I remember when it was built,” he said of the highway. “I think they should tear it down.

But, he added, he wonders if officials are taking too much away. His idea? Leave the elevated part at the Adams and Harrison street exits. Tear down the part south of that, the part which runs by his and other homes in Pioneer Village.

Overall, most protesting today want the highway to come down.

“We want jobs for all, for the immigrants and refugees too,” said Jay Subedi, who’s with the New Americans Forum.

Those newer Syracuse residents live near I-81 too, said Tai Shaw, who’s also with the new Americans group. “We want to make sure we are heard,” he said, adding he favors getting rid of the highway. “We want to be in the conversation.”

Not everyone who came today favors the teardown plan. “I don’t want all that traffic by my home,” said Wendolyn White, who lives on Martin Luther King East, which runs perpendicular to I-81.

Transportation officials have said the plan will disperse the overhead traffic onto city streets by adding new exits. They say that means fewer cars will end up on Almond Street, which runs by King school now.

White doesn’t buy that. “I think it just needs to stay,” she said. “Just fix it.”

READ MORE ON I-81

Would new I-81 circle by elementary school be the next Carrier Circle?

New videos show traffic levels in a Syracuse without an elevated I-81

See the entire I-81 plan, with maps, data and more

Got a story idea or news tip you’d like to share with a Syracuse-area reporter? Please contact me through email, Twitter, Facebook or at 315-470-2274.