RESOURCES

I-787 / Albany Waterfront 

ARTICLES

• “A Syracuse highway is coming down. Albany's 787 should follow” (Times Union, July 25, 2023)

• “NYSDOT taking public input on reimagining I-787” (News10 ABC, Jun 28, 2023)

• Freeway ramp becomes park, connecting city to its river’ (CNU Public Square, May 30, 2023)

• “An opportunity to reshape Interstate 787 in Albany has arrived” (Albany Business Review, Feb 23, 2023)

• “Freeways Without Futures 2023” (CNU, 2023)

• “Parsons awarded $5.3M contract to reimagine I-787” (Albany Business Review, May 4, 2023)

• “Community Based Design Aspirations : The Albany Riverfront Collaborative” (ACE - Upstate Creative, December 20, 2022)

• “Can Albany’s riverfront once again become a thriving hub of city life? These advocates say yes” (The Daily Gazette, October 22, 2022)

• “SEEN: Albany Riverfront Collaborative’s Community Gathering 2022” (Times Union, July 18, 2022)

• “Raze 787? Readers Respond” (Times Union, April 19, 2022)

• “$5 million allocated in state budget for I-787 feasibility study” (News10 ABC, April 12, 2022)

• “A step towards the end of 787 as we know it” (Times Union, April 12, 2022)

• “Study of 787 in downtown Albany gets $5 million from New York State” (Albany Business Journal, April 11, 2022)

• “Albany’s Pearl Street, a once-humming cityscape, struggles to thrive” (Times Union, Mar 23, 2022)

• “A Grand Vision to Reconnect Albany With its Waterfront” (Albany Proper, Mar 23, 2022)

• “Making Connections: The Albany Riverfront Collaborative” (AIAENY Architext, Mar 2022)

• “Bold campaign for highway removal” (CNU Public Square, Mar 7, 2022)

• “Walls Divide Us: Reconnecting Albany” (CNU’s On the Park Bench Webinar, Jan 18, 2022)

• “What’s Going on at the Albany Waterfront?” (Sanctuary for Independent Media, Dec 17, 2021)

• “Albany-on-Hudson again?” (Architecture Here and There, Dec 13, 2021)

• “Envisioning Albany, without the waterfront-blocking freeway” (Public Square, Nov 24, 2021)

• “Could Albany connect to its waterfront? Federal aid could help” (Spectrum News, Nov 24, 2021)

• “Imagining an Albany Without I-787” (Spectrum News, Nov 22, 2021)

• “A Beginning to 787’s End” (Times Union, Nov 18, 2021)

• “Finding a Creative Way Around a Bad Highway” (CityLab, Oct 19, 2021)

• “Can re-thinking old highways make upstate cities better?” (Spectrum News, Sep 10, 2021)

• “Is 787 a racist highway?” (Times Union, April 20, 2021)

• “Replacing 787 is about more than Albany” (Times Union, Mar 3, 2021)

• “One (potentially wonderful) alternative to replacing I-787” (Times Union, Mar 27, 2021)

• “Construction of Albany’s elevated Skyway park starts this month” (Times Union, Mar 17, 2021)

• “787, a highway only a pessimist could love” (Times Union, Jan 26, 2021)

• “Mr Biden, tear down this Highway!” (Times Union, Jan 18, 2021)

• “Why Scott Townsend says it’s time to move forward on replacing I-787” (Albany Business Review, April 16, 2020)

• “Time to tear down I-787” (Daily Gazette, Feb 24, 2020)

• “Albany Mayor Ponders 787 Removal, Is It Necessary?” (Spectrum News, Feb 23, 2020)

• “Remove I-787? Fahy wants a feasibility study” (Times Union, Dec 20, 2019)

• “Demolish I-787 and the Capital Region will flourish” (Times Union, Sep 27, 2019)

• “787 is sticking around for a long time, but if you want to change it the time to start is now” (All Over Albany, Mar 16, 2018)

• “Study identifies what to do, and not do, with 787” (Times Union, Mar 15, 2018)

• “What if tearing down I-787 could actually improve traffic?” (All Over Albany, Feb 1, 2016)

• “Reimagining 787: The Great Hudson River barrier” (Albany Business Review, Jan 15, 2015)

• “Unlocking 3.5 miles of waterfront potential” (Times Union, Dec 11, 2012)
  

STUDIES & PLANS

• NYS DOT’s RFQ for “Design - Engineering Feasibility and Planning Study for Reimagining the I-787 Corridor”

• Assemblymember Fahy’s Request for I-787 Study Funding

• Report on Potential Economic and Fiscal Impacts of ARC’s Proposal

• Rensselaer Waterfront Connectivity Study 2023

• New Visions 2050 (CDTC’s Long-Range Transportation Plan, Sep 2020)

• I-787 Hudson Waterfront Corridor Study Final Report (CDTC, Dec 2018)

• Albany Waterfront Connector Feasibility Study (CDTC, Dec 2017)

• Albany Complete Streets Policy and Design Manual (CDTC, Dec, 2016)

• WAVES (City of Albany)

• Albany 2030 Comprehensive Plan (2011)

• Albany Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (1991)

• Historical photos of Albany’s riverfront (Albany Group Archive)

• Historical photos of Albany’s riverfront (Times UnIon)

DOCUMENTARIES

• “The Albany Riverfront Collaborative: An Introduction”

• “Reimagining Albany’s Waterfront”

• “Conversations With Our Community, Vol. 1: Alice Green and Shawn Hamlin”

• “Conversations With Our Community, Vol. 2: Pam Howard and Phillip Morris”

• “Conversations With Our Community, Vol 3: Scott Townsend”

• “Assemblymember Pat Fahy on Interstate 787”

• “Bridging the Hudson River: Connecting Albany and Rensselaer”

Albany Social Justice/Redlining

ARTICLES

• “Mapping the Past and Future of Urban Highways” (Bloomberg, July 28, 2021)

• “A City Divided: How New York’s capital city was splintered along racial lines” (Times Union, June 6, 2021)

• “Reverse redlining: Albany organizations ask city for $20 million for neighborhood revitalization” (Times Union, June 24, 2021)

• “When home is a health hazard” (Times Union, June 9, 2021)

• “For some Albany residents, getting groceries is no easy task” (Times Union, June 7, 2021)

• “Examining the forces and maps that redlined the city of Albany” (All Over Albany, Feb 16, 2017)

WEBSITES

• 98 Acres in Albany

• Center for Law and Justice

• South End Improvement Corporation

• AVillage

• Affordable Housing Partnership

• Albany County Land Bank

Urban Highway Removal

ARTICLES

• “The Case for Urban Highway Removal” (Planetizen, Sep 12, 2022)

• “Mr. Biden, Tear Down This Highway” (New York Times, Sep 8. 2022)

• “Freeway Fighters: Reconnecting the City” (CNU’s On the Park Bench Webinar, July 5, 2022)

• CNU’s Freeways Without Futures

• “Lids, teardowns, and infrastructure burials” (Public Square, Jan 3, 2022)

• “What it Looks Like to Reconnect Black Communities Torn Apart by Highways” (City Lab)

• “Can Removing Highways Fix America’s Cities?” (NYTimes)

• “Highways Gutted American Cities. So why did they build them?” (Vox)

• “How the Federal Government Could Help Kill the Highways it Built” (City Lab)

• “Deconstruction Ahead: How Urban Highway Removal is Changing Our Cities” (Lincoln Institute)

• “The Life and Death of Urban Highways” (ITDP & EMBARQ)

INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT & JOBS ACT (2021) & RECONNECTING COMMUNITIES PROGRAM (US DOT)

• USDOT Information on Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program

• Full bill text from congress.gov

• Section 11506 “Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program”

• Press Release from Senator Schumer on Reconnecting Communities Fund and RAISE grants

• “What's the price of community? Infrastructure law devotes $1 billion to reconnect neighborhoods split by interstates” (USA Today, Jan 25, 2022)

• “One Historic Black Neighborhood’s Stake in the Infrastructure Bill” (New York Times, Nov 20, 2021)

• “Advocates see pilot program to address inequalities from highways as crucial first step” (The Hill, Nov 26, 2021)

• “Buttigieg: Infrastructure bill to address racist highway design” (Axios, Nov 9, 2021)

• “Biden wants to ‘reconnect communities’ cut off by interstates — this infamous Baltimore highway shows what’s at stake” (Market Watch, Nov 10, 2021)

• “Pete Buttigieg just defined infrastructural racism” (Quartz, Nov 10, 2021)

• “Robert Moses and the saga of the racist parkway bridges” (Washington Post, Nov 10, 2021)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT (2022) & NEIGHBORHOOD ACCESS & EQUITY GRANTS

• “Inflation Reduction Act includes $3B to improve roads” (Construction Dive, Aug 23, 2022)

• “Senate Package Has $3B for Communities Cut Apart by Highways” (Route Fifty, Aug 5, 2022)

• “Summary of the Energy Security and Climate Change Investments in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022” (Office of US Senate Democrats)

UPSTATE NY HIGHWAY REMOVAL

• Future of Small Cities Webinar on Upstate NY Urban Highways

• “About Time: Syracuse’s I-81 is Finally Getting Demolished” (Curbed, Jan 28, 2022)

• “Public housing transformation gets boost from freeway teardown” (Public Square, Jan 26, 2022)

• “Hochul touts necessity of infrastructure investments to 'help right the wrongs of the past’” (Spectrum News, Jan 22, 2022)

• Rochester Inner Loop East (Complete)

• Rochester Inner Loop North (In Process)

• Syracuse I-81 Viaduct Project (DOT) (In Process)

• “The Future of Urban Freeways Is Playing Out Right Now in Syracuse” (CityLab, Feb 18, 2014)

• Buffalo Skyway Project (DOT) (In Process)

• Buffalo’s Scajaquada Corridor Coalition (In Process)

• Niagara Falls, Robert Moses Parkway (Complete)

OTHER CASE STUDIES OF URBAN HIGHWAY REMOVAL

• Duluth Waterfront Collective (In Process)

• Great Highway Park Initiative, SF (In Process)

• Riverfront Parkway, Chattanooga (Complete)

• Harbor Drive, Portland (Complete)

• Alaskan Way Viaduct, Seattle (In Process)

• Embarcadero Freeway, SF (Complete)