-81 construction could force hundreds of Syracuse public housing residents to move, director says
Teri Weaver
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Interstate 81 project could temporarily displace 600 to 1,000 people living in public housing near the highway, predicted the director of the Syracuse Housing Authority.
It would be the largest relocation effort in the public housing authority's history, according to director Bill Simmons. And it's unclear where those people would go.
"I don't think they have a sense of the magnitude of this," Simmons said of the state Department of Transportation, which is heading the project to replace the highway's viaduct that hangs between two of the city's large public housing sites.
Simmons said he couldn't estimate exactly what units might be affected by the construction, in part because the DOT is in the beginning stages of narrowing down options for the aging highway. A DOT spokesman said today the state is responsible for any relocation, but he declined to say whether plans for the highway will take any public housing in the highway's shadow.
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/07/i-81_construction_could_displace_hundreds_of_syracuse_public_housing_residents_d.html#incart_m-rpt-2
