For more than 50 years, the Interstate 81 viaduct in Syracuse has stood as an unsightly monument to the failures of top-down thinking.
It cuts through the heart of the city, much of it crumbling, while the federal, state and city officials consider how to replace it. Their deliberations have left communities bordering the viaduct anxious about their futures, fueling worries that officials could repeat the same missteps as the original planners, who decimated neighborhoods to build the roadway.
Whatever replaces the viaduct must be the result of community input, with a particular focus on the concerns of the people who will be most impacted by the massive, years-long construction project.
Learn more at nyclu.org/i81
Film produced by the New York Civil Liberties Union
Music by Julian Winter
Archival photos from the Onondaga Historical Association