‘Reliving history’: Residents fear I-81 project could displace communities
Elizabeth Billman | Senior Staff Photographer
Rather than being abruptly displaced like when the viaduct was initially constructed, residents living by I-81 would be progressively pushed out.
Facebook
Subscribe to our newsletter here.
As a child, Deanna Holland’s mother lived where the parking lot for Upstate University Hospital now sits. Her home was destroyed to make room for Interstate 81.
Like 1,300 other Syracuse residents, she was forced to leave her home so the state could construct the highway, which splits through Syracuse’s Southside neighborhood.
Now, nearly 55 years later, the state plans to remove and replace the deteriorating section of the raised highway. Holland, who lives less than a quarter of a mile from I-81, fears her community could face the same fate as her mother.