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I-81: A Monument to Oppression I-81: A Monument to Oppression

By James Corrigan

Reporter: It’s a monument to systemic racism and oppression. The damage the I-81 viaducts have done to the city of Syracuse go far beyond any accidents on its roads.

Corre Williams: “I have family members who lost their homes, you know, had to move, sell their house, basically, the city bought them out”

Reporter: Corre Williams has lived his entire life in Syracuse, and saw with his own eyes the impact the viaducts had when they were built in the 50s and 60s. His family lived in the 15th ward, which used to hold over 90% of the city’s black population. But when the federal highway act passed in 1956, the ward had a target on its back.

Deka Dancil: “75% of that neighborhood where 93% of the black population lived was razed for urban renewal and to make way for the 81 highway.”

Reporter: This led the city’s displaced black population to move south, and its white population move out entirely, decimating the tax base, and throwing thousands into poverty.

Williams: “Certain sides of town would have issues with other sides of town where you couldn’t go, so that’s when I guess the drug trade started up.”

Reporter: As the viaducts near the end of their expected shelf life, the city is close to breaking ground on a plan in the works for years to replace I-81 with what they call the community grid, which would tear down the viaducts completely, potentially creating thousands of construction jobs in the process. Deka Dancil’s Urban Jobs Task Force is trying to make sure they go to local residents.

Dancil: “We want to see as many Syracuse city residents as possible working on the project.”

Reporter: The plan would see eyesore viaducts such as this move to ground level, making way for brand new business opportunities, such as the planned canal district by the Erie Canal Museum, where brand new business art and restaurant opportunities could revitalize the area. But perhaps the biggest change under the plan would take place at Almond Street…
…where I-81’s impact is most visible as the viaduct runs throughout the entirety of the street. But under the community grid plan, this street would look entirely different, including this intersection behind me of Almond Street and Harrison Street, which would be unrecognizable under the plan’s current blueprint. The economic opportunities in this project are endless, and community leaders and citizens alike are giddy about its possibilities. But it is not without its drawbacks, especially for those who say that the project could potentially repeat history.

Dancil: “We are very nervous that, one, that people are going to be displaced, that the area is going to be gentrified, that the people who have been most impacted by the highway historically and who will bear the brunt of the burden when it is rebuilt will not have the benefit.”

Reporter: But for lifelong residents like Corre Williams, the project represents the first step to righting the wrongs of history.

Williams: “Symbolize a reckoning of understanding what the damages that were being done to a group of people.”

Reporter: The project is expected to break ground as early as 2022. James Corrigan, NCC News.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Corre Williams has lived in Syracuse his entire life, and can remember a time when the violence in the streets today made way for comradery.

“I had a pretty good childhood,” the 53-year-old Williams said. “We were a close knit community. Kids played together outside, football in the streets. You were connected one way or another. If you didn’t know who I was, you knew who my family was.”

As he grew up in the city, things began to change. Poverty became more paramount, and drugs became commonplace in his native south side. It was not hard to see the root cause of the community’s strife, as many of its residents had been recently displaced and were struggling to find their footing. This included the family of Corre Williams.

“I have family members who lost their homes, had to move, sell their house,” Williams said. “Basically, the city bought them out. And basically, families were displaced. You had neighborhoods where there were thriving businesses, grocery stores, jazz clubs, clothing stores, and markets and different things like that, and everyone basically patronized each other and supported one another’s’ business. Once things started getting torn apart, basically were moved to other areas. And then when they built the high rise, it was more or less everybody was basically packed into that one area.

The high rise refers to the I-81 viaducts, which slices through the heart of Syracuse for cars to pass over. Williams’ family lived in the 15th Ward of Syracuse, which held over 90% of the city’s Black population at one point. After the Federal Highway Act was passed in 1956, the ward was leveled in order to build the viaducts, and its residents were displaced, mostly to the south side. The area’s white residents responded by moving to the suburbs, decimating the city’s tax base and leaving no structure for the displaced residents to settle in.

“The impact can still be seen today,” saidSyracuse’s Urban Jobs Task Force president Deka Dancil. “I-81 in combination with redlining and urban renewal has caused the kind of economic devastation that we have not been able to overcome.”

As the viaducts near the end of their expected life, debate has raged for years on how to properly replace them. After multiple proposals were looked over, city officials and community leaders came up with a solution in 2019 called the community grid, which would bring the viaducts to ground level and direct traffic through the city, rather than over it. Proponents of the grid say this would create more opportunity for local businesses to thrive, as well as create thousands of construction jobs, which activists are trying to ensure go to city residents.

“Our goal is to maximize local hire on the I-81 Project,” Dancil said of her Task Force. “We want to see as many Syracuse city residents as we can working on a project without cutting any corners on safety.”

A concern Dancil has, though, is that the project could displace residents who would not be able to reap its benefits, essentially repeating history from the original viaducts.

“Worst case scenario is that the neighborhood right now in the shadow of the viaduct where many of the disadvantaged and people of color of Syracuse live, that that area will be gentrified and they’ll be displaced,” Dancil said. “That they’ll not be able to return those who want to. That all the wonderful upgrades that will happen in the area, that people that live there now would not be able to benefit from it and that they’ll have to leave for those upgrades to happen just as anything else.”

Despite the potential drawbacks, for lifelong residents like Corre Williams, the project provides a sense of hope for a community that needs it.

“Since I was a kid, that’s all I knew,” Williams said. “So seeing that come down, I will think it maybe symbolizes a reckoning of understanding of the damages that were being done to a group of people.”

 

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