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march 7, 2017 high 55°, low 36°
t h e i n de p e n de n t s t u de n t n e w s pa p e r of s y r a c u s e , n e w yor k |
N • Trump’s cabinet
dailyorange.com
S • Striking forward
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry was recently confirmed as the United States Secretary of Energy. He once called for the Department of Energy to be abolished. Page 3
Matt Lane provided a spark to a struggling Syracuse offense on Saturday afternoon. His improved dodging ability has helped him become a more consistent threat. Page 16
P • Portrait artist
Brandon Stanton, the man behind the popular social media venture Humans of New York, spoke as a University Lecturer on Monday in a sold-out Goldstein Auditorium. Page 9
‘Not in our backyard’
Locals remain divided over I-81 replacement project TINICA SHORT, a Syracuse resident who lives near the Interstate 81 highway, worries that the replacement project for the highway will damage her community. She supports the community grid option for the project, but some residents see it differently. wasim ahmad staff photographer
T
inica Short’s face turned solemn as she looked up at the hulking body of concrete and steel above her. Red, disparaging tendrils of rust could be seen creeping around edges of the raised highway’s girders. The echo of tractor-trailers, passing overhead, was muted and distant. The base of Toomey Abbott Towers was across the street, and down the block the neat rows of the Pioneer Homes public housing complex were just visible. “There’s a lot of memories and history around here,” Short said. She has lived in this community, cut in half by the Interstate 81 highway, her entire life. Generations of her family have lived here. Her grandparents and mom lived here. She’s the current tenant organization president for Pioneer Homes, the complex that was bisected by the major highway’s construction in the 1950s and 1960s.
I-81 SERIES PART 1 OF 3
By Sam Ogozalek asst. news editor
With the aging I-81 expected to undergo major reconstruction again soon, Short now worries the highway might again damage her community. Residents who live near the viaduct like Short and others in Syracuse and the city’s surrounding suburbs, remain divided over the New York State Department of Transportation’s plan to address I-81’s structural deficiency in Syracuse. The NYSDOT began to officially analyze the conditions of the highway as early as 2008 for the project. The NYSDOT had narrowed the options for replacing the highway down to two from 16, but
in January announced a consulting firm would be reviewing all possible options for replacing the highway, including tunnel options that had previously been dismissed by the state. The firm is expected to complete its review this summer. The NYSDOT was also expected to release a final environmental impact statement on the project in January, but never did. “We want to know what’s going on. If we have to move, when do we have to move? We don’t want it to just hit us all of a sudden,” Short said. Short said she’s afraid the government will ignore Pioneer Homes when replacing the viaduct, much like it did when the highway was originally built. A portion of the Pioneer Homes complex is located on the eastern side of I-81, directly below the State University of New York Upstate Medical University, while the rest of the public see I-81 page 4
i-81 series
I-81 replacement project could contaminate water supply By Sam Ogozalek asst. news editor
Syracuse’s drinking water could be indirectly contaminated by the Interstate 81 replacement project in the city, officials and residents from the Finger Lakes region said. Some warned that Skaneateles Lake, the city’s main source of water, could be exposed to toxic material because of a truck accident, although experts said it’s unlikely a spill like the one described by multiple officials and residents would occur or drastically affect the city’s water supply.
The New York State Department of Transportation has been reviewing for years how to replace I-81 in Syracuse, which is expected to reach the end of its useful life in 2017. Recently, the state announced that a consulting firm, WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff, would review all options for the replacement of the viaduct, including tunnel options that had previously been dismissed by the state. Officials from areas surrounding Skaneateles Lake and Owasco Lake in interviews said the community grid option proposed by the state — which would reroute interstate
traffic east around Syracuse on what is now Interstate 481 — would increase the number of long haul trucks using small state highways in their towns and villages to cut west across New York state. Skaneateles Lake and Owasco Lake are located about 20 and 30 miles southwest of Syracuse, respectively. The issue has been ongoing for years, said James Lanning, the town of Skaneateles supervisor. New York City garbage trucks, bringing waste to landfills in Seneca Falls, frequently use highways such as State Route 41 and 41A
that run alongside Skaneateles Lake, instead of taking I-81 north to Syracuse before cutting west on Interstate 690, Lanning said. The community grid’s proposed detour around Syracuse — and the I-81 project’s construction in the city — will only exacerbate the issue, Lanning said. The increase in truck traffic could lead to a garbage truck having an accident and dumping potentially hazardous material into the lake or the lake’s tributaries, he said. “It would be very difficult to contain,” Lanning said, referring to a potential contamination of the lake.
But experts said this potential truck spill is unlikely to occur or, if it did, impact the drinking supply of the city. “It’s not entirely to be discounted. But that being a primary concern of the change in traffic patterns doesn’t seem very realistic,” said Stephen Shaw, an assistant professor of environmental resources engineering at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Skaneateles Lake’s large size — it is approximately 16 miles long see water
supply page 4