Syracuse, N.Y. – A group opposing plans to tear down a portion of Interstate 81 in Syracuse have a new idea:
Rebuild the elevated highway and name it “The Harriet Tubman Memorial Freedom Bridge.”
The idea came from one of Tubman’s descendants, Pauline Copes Johnson, according to Charles Garland, who organized an announcement today about the proposal.
It comes as state and federal transportation officials after a decade of study are proposing to remove the highway bridges that loom over a public housing neighborhood and reroute highway traffic onto nearby Interstate 481.
Before today, those who supported the idea for a massive bridge were calling it the “skyway.” They’ve provided no detailed engineering plans. Weeks ago, Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh called the “skyway” a pie-in-the-sky” idea. Garland said he doesn’t know the exact size of the bridge he’s proposing.
Today, Garland, a funeral director who is also running for the Onondaga County Legislature, said the idea for naming the bridge came from Johnson about a month ago.
Since then, he said, she and her family have been collecting signatures and have asked President Joe Biden, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Gov. Kathy Hochul and others to rethink the highway’s future.
The concept comes with a website, a YouTube video and a copy of the petition with about 80 signatures. The video, which shows a massive, well-lit bridge spanning Syracuse, uses theme music from Netflix’s “The Crown.”
Garland has spent the...
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