The north section of the Inner Loop looking south from the Market View Heights neighborhood. Norman Jones is old enough to remember the Inner Loop being built more than half a century ago.
“I have a clear memory of that machinery,” Jones said. “When you’re 4, 5, 6 years old, and you see big trucks and the excavators, you go, ‘Wow.’ When you see it all moved around, you just thought it was the coolest thing, and probably everyone else thought it was the coolest thing.”
The 63-year-old commissioner of the city Department of Environmental Services keeps two outsized frames hanging on the wall of the agency’s conference room at City Hall that act as his guides when he considers the future of the sunken expressway.
Where to eat in Houston right now: 10 new restaurants for posh dining and diverse dishes
Where to eat in Houston: 10 new restaurants for posh + diverse dining
Photo by Claudia Casbarian
Photo by Carla Gomez
Photo courtesy of La Colombe d Or Save room for dessert at Da Gama.
Courtesy of Da Gama
Photo by Becca Wright Being out and about recently leads to one obvious conclusion Houstonians have resumed dining in restaurants. The signs of a surge in dining are everywhere. Weekend reservations at popular spots book up a week or more in advance. A manager at one Inner Loop hot spot recently shared that revenues currently exceed 2019’s strong sales.
Can this U S city heal racial wounds by busting up its freeway? reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Syndicated Content
By Andy Sullivan
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (Reuters) â For more than 50 years, Interstate 81 has cut through the heart of hard-luck Syracuse, New York, raining vehicle exhaust on its Southside neighborhood, where most residents are Black and poor.
Now, New York State wants to replace that elevated stretch of freeway with a street-level boulevard to knit the cityâs urban grid back together. Construction could begin as soon as next year.
The plan has stirred visions of renewal in a city where one in three residents lives in poverty. Some here say it could also make amends to Black residents who were displaced by Interstate 81âs construction decades ago and have been living in its shadow ever since.
Divided highway
The I-81 freeway in Syracuse, New York. REUTERS/Zoe Davis
By
May 25, 2021
For more than 50 years, Interstate 81 has cut through the heart of hard-luck Syracuse, New York, raining vehicle exhaust on its Southside neighborhood, where most residents are Black and poor.
Now, New York State wants to replace that elevated stretch of freeway with a street-level boulevard to knit the city’s urban grid back together. Construction could begin as soon as next year.
The plan has stirred visions of renewal in a city where one in three residents lives in poverty. Some here say it could also make amends to Black residents who were displaced by Interstate 81’s construction decades ago and have been living in its shadow ever since.