Syracuse residents impacted by the re-imagining of the Interstate-81 viaduct this June will be able to call medical experts to learn best practices on how to deal with the fallout of construction.
That includes the effects of air pollution and lead paint and dust contamination.
State Department of Transportation officials and community advocates announced a hotline, among other measures meant to maintain the health of nearby residents, at a Wednesday press conference at the Dunbar Center. Other initiatives touted by NYSDOT, advocates from the New York Civil Liberties Union and other local organizations include:
- An air quality monitoring station.
- The distribution of adhesive mats designed to remove dirt, dust and other contaminants from the soles of shoes.
- Fridge magnets with informational materials and health tip sheets.
NYSDOT, NYCLU and other community partners will be hosting a meeting Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Dunbar Center to discuss how these resources can help residents.
The announcement of these measures comes a month before construction on the replacement of the aging I-81 viaduct starts. The construction project, known as Contract 5 in the scope of the re-imagining of I-81, is likely to impact the area flanked by Dr. Martin Luther King West and Almond Streets.
Contract 5 involves a new roundabout at Van Buren Street, a new railroad bridge, and improvements to storm water and sewage systems. It also includes pedestrian and cyclist amenities, new traffic signals, and noise barriers, all of which are meant to transform the area where the decrepit viaduct lays into a connected and pedestrian-friendly grid of streets.
The health protections proposed by NYSDOT and community organizers are the culmination of years of advocacy, said Lanessa Owens-Chaplin, the director of NYCLU’s Racial Justice Center. NYCLU advocates and community volunteers have knocked on hundreds of doors for the past seven years to garner the input of residents who will be impacted by the fall of the viaduct.
Owens-Chaplin said this phase of construction will impact more than 3,200 residents living in the area. She said she has heard from thousands concerned about three main issues: air pollution, the potential lead paint chips and dust that the demolition of the viaduct will shed, and noise pollution.
“A lot of the concerns that we heard from residents were: ‘how am I going to stay safe during construction?’,” said Lanessa Owens-Chaplin, the director of NYCLU’s Racial Justice Center. Owens-Chaplin noted that already residents she has spoken to are dealing with a heap of cardiovascular and respiratory ailments.
To handle air pollution, SUNY’s College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry and SUNY Upstate will track air quality during the project, state officials and medical professionals said.
“We’re going to try to make that transparent and make the pollution information available to people in the public,” said Dr. Travis Hobart, the medical director of the CNY Children’s Environmental Health Center at SUNY Upstate.
Betsy Parmley, the director of the I-81 Project at NYSDOT, said that the department would take measures to reduce pollution if the monitoring reached certain thresholds. Parmley said the department would halt construction altogether and reassess how to proceed in order to mitigate air contamination.
“If it exceeds thresholds,” Parmley said, “we will correct our construction.”
NYSDOT is still working on how to make that information available to the public, Parmley added, noting that readings can be highly technical.
The department is also hiring an industrial hygienist that helps community members learn best practices. NYSDOT and its advocacy partners also plan to distribute adhesive mats designed to remove dirt, dust and other contaminants from the soles of shoes.
Owens-Chaplin said that the lead paint and dust kicked up by the demolition of the viaduct has been a concern for area residents. Parmley said the department and its contractors handling the demolition will be using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards to dispose of the debris. More specifically, NYSDOT will be adhering to the EPA’s lead Renovation, Repair and Painting rules, which inform best practices in the lead remediation industry.
NYSDOT will also be following its internal regulations for “Class B” containment for lead paint removal, which is a type of containment used during lead abatement or removal work to protect the environment and workers from lead dust and debris.
“We will contain the steel girders when we check the paint off, so it should not go into the community,” Parmley added.
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