Syracuse: I-81 Community Health Needs Assessment

I-81 VIADUCT COMMUNITY HEALTH NEEDS ASSESSMENT REPORT TO BE RELEASED DECEMBER 2026

As of 2026, the I-81 Viaduct in the 15th Ward-Southside Neighborhood of Syracuse, New York is 58 years old and approaching the end of its compliance with modern industrial architecture standards. The removal of the viaduct provides the city and the residents of the 15th Ward with an opportunity to redevelop the neighborhood street grid, reduce noise and pollution, extract a concrete eyesore, and provide some elements of restorative justice to a community that was deeply scarred by the construction of the highway in the first place. To ensure that this process can achieve the beneficial results sought by residents and community leaders, the Central New York Children’s Environmental Health Center (CNYCEHC) has commissioned this Community Health Needs Assessment (“the Assessment”). The purpose of the Assessment is to bring the concerns of area residents into the public discourse on the project. This document is a lever of accountability. It should lead to further community participation in the removal of the viaduct and restoration of the community street grid.

The process of implementing the Assessment involved dozens of community members and leaders, CNYCECH staff, and other institutional stakeholders, all whose voices may be heard in these pages. Altogether, 285 individuals participated in the project as survey respondents, focus group members, interviewees, community representatives, and local project staff.

Their views on the project are nuanced and balanced, taking into consideration history, community values, local needs and the concerns of city leaders, as well as their own personal interests in the project’s outcome. Residents are keenly aware of the challenges and trade-offs involved in removing such a monumental piece of the city’s highway infrastructure. They understand the costs of moving traffic elsewhere, for both residents and commuters. They know from experience how the burden of urban development falls unevenly on the shoulders of residents and others in poor and working-class communities. They balance their concerns for the material and physical impacts with the well-known likelihood of gentrification that tends to follow urban renewal and improvement.

The fear of displacement and having to build new communities in the fallout of gentrification only reinforces the lessons of the viaduct’s original construction: that without adequate involvement of residents and the fulsome inclusion of their experiences and expectations in the process, there is a high likelihood that the project’s benefits will accrue to others who arrive in the wake of restoration to take advantage of benefits and opportunities that were taken from the area’s residents when the viaduct was built in the first place. The removal of the viaduct should elevate the opportunities and life chances of residents, instead of placing their concerns in second place to rising property values and the interests of institutional investors and stakeholders. For the residents of the 15th Ward-Southside Neighborhood to enjoy the promise of this project, vigilance will need to be continuous, vocal, documented, and disseminated. This report is one piece in that process.

The complete report will present and analyze the following findings in detail and provide recommendations to mitigate any potential harms.

· Particulate Matter and Personal Risk of Exposure

· Economic Security and Public Safety After the Viaduct Removal

· Housing Security and Gentrification

· History, Culture, and Restorative Justice

The full report will be available to read in late 2026.