Lawyer Lanessa Owens-Chaplin discussed Interstate 81’s connection to environmental racism during a Tuesday lecture at SUNY-ESF.

The I-81 highway, which cuts through downtown Syracuse, reached the end of its usable life in 2017. The New York State Department of Transportation recommended a community grid replacement option for the viaduct in April. The grid would level the viaduct and reroute traffic on city streets.

Owens-Chaplin, Project I-81 counsel for the New York Civil Liberties Union, expressed support for the community grid option during the discussion in SUNY-ESF’s Gateway Center.

The community grid option would unite communities that I-81 historically divided, Owens-Chaplin said. She also called for NYSDOT to compensate for 55 years of environmental injustice through restorative measures.

The portion of the I-81 viaduct above Almond Street is a particularly dangerous stretch of road, according to the NYSDOT website. When the viaduct was constructed in the 1950s and 1960s, 90% of the Black population in Syracuse lived in the surrounding neighborhood, Owens-Chaplin said.

“All across the nation, you’ll see a major viaduct cutting through a predominantly minority neighborhood,” Owens-Chaplin said.

About 90,000 cars travel across the I-81 viaduct each day, she said. Air pollution from I-81 can have adverse effects on those living or going to school nearby, particularly people of color, Owens-Chaplin said.

“The most polluted ZIP code in our nation is 13205, and that’s where the viaduct sits, where the Black community lives and goes to school.”

The effects of the air pollution can reach up to 600 feet, Owens-Chaplin said. Portions of STEAM at Dr. King Elementary School — which has a student body largely composed of Black students — are located as close as 10 feet from the viaduct, she said.

Owens-Chaplin cited studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency that outline the health impacts air pollution can have on children. Living or attending school near a major roadway can affect a child’s ability to learn, she said.

“Children perform lower on test scores, they have trouble concentrating, they miss a lot of school days and they have the highest rates of athletic cardiovascular disease,” Owens-Chaplin said.

NYSDOT should revise its community grid proposal to remove Wilson Park — located near the Syracuse Housing Authority — as a staging site option and guarantee compensation to residents who may be affected by the highway’s reconfiguration, she said.

People should consider how their own environment and surroundings may reflect their privilege, and what benefits they may receive as a result, Owens-Chaplin said.

“The same protections that SU students are afforded to feel landlocked and protected with no access is to the detriment of those on the other side,” said Owens-Chaplin.

Published on March 3, 2020 at 11:19 pm

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