In November 1968, the Interstate 16 flyover into downtown Savannah opened to traffic for the first time, heralded in local newspaper clippings as the latest and greatest addition to the relatively new American interstate system.
An Associated Press article from September 1967 described the new U.S. highways as a checkerboard pattern of connecting roads, providing relief to an increasingly car-dependent society.
“Harried motorists plagued by narrow roads, numerous detours, stop signs and traffic lights may be in for smooth driving, sooner than they think,” said the article.
However “smooth” the driving may have been for new commuters coming into town, the economic toll it took on the Martin Luther King Jr. corridor, back then called West Broad, and black-owned businesses in the area was disproportionate to any other neighborhood.
“The construction here changed neighborhoods drastically,” said native Savannahian Richard Shinhoster, owner of The Diaspora Marketplace on 510 MLK Jr. Blvd, a building that’s been in his family since the ‘70s.
Whereas the neighborhood had once been home to two local theaters, doctors offices, restaurants and bars, after the highway came in, people moved out and many businesses shut down or were razed.
“Businesses north of the flyover back to River Street were developed, but the area south of the flyover, going back to Victory Drive, did not receive the same development,” said Shinhoster.
Despite the I-16 bridge being named in honor of his late brother, Earl Shinhoster, who was active in the local civil rights movement, Shinhoster believes it’s time for the flyover to be removed.
He said it was almost as if the road had created a psychological barrier as much as a physical one and became a “divisive structure” when the Savannah Development and Renewal Authority began its efforts to revitalize the corridor more than a decade ago.
Phase II
During an informal meeting at the Metropolitan Planning Commission offices this week, property owners, community activists, planning board members and other stakeholders met to hear the current status of the multi-stage project to remove what is now considered a major eyesore.
Ellen Harris, director of urban planning and preservation at the planning commission, the agency now heading the removal study, said the first phase took about two years, from public input on the design and civic master plan to when city council unanimously voted to support the project in July 2012.
She said the project is in its second phase, which entails compiling data on traffic counts, land use, impacts to the interstate’s function and local street networks for inclusion in a comprehensive study called the Interchange Modification Report.
This report, which is estimated to take another year to complete, will then be submitted to the Georgia Department of Transportation and the ultimate authority, the Federal Highway Administration, for preliminary approval.
“We’re really excited that there’s momentum keeping this going forward,” said Emily Ritzler, project manager for Jacobs Engineering Group, the consulting firm hired to usher the city through the second phase.
“The alternative analysis is going to take that prefered concept and look at it in terms of how it feeds into the entire interstate system and what kind of changes might be needed operationally to support the changes in traffic,” she said. “But we’re not going to be bringing in new concepts. We’re really just going to be tweaking what came out of the civic master plan.”
Ritzler said the most difficult hurdle for the project will be after phase two when the environmental impact study will have to be done to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act. This piece of legislation passed one year after the I-16 flyover opened, in 1969, and would’ve likely impeded its construction.
During the environmental study, consultants will conduct studies on noise and air, cultural and archeological resources and ecological and biological factors.
Tom Thomson, executive director of the planning commission, said the feedback they’ve received so far from the Georgia DOT has been positive, indicating there’s a lot of interest in the project.
That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen quickly, Thomson acknowledged, but said they wanted to keep the public updated on the ramp removal’s various phases.
Another caveat of the Federal Highway Admininistration is that any portion of an interstate that is removed must be added somewhere else to comply with funding laws, and a project of this complexity and size can take anywhere from eight to 10 years.
New website
As part of their efforts to keep residents informed, the project launched a new website this week to publish previous studies, showcase concepts, answer questions and keep the public engaged.
The website, ReclaimingOldWestBroad.org, is being spearheaded by Denise Grabowski, principal of Symbioscity, who’s leading the public and stakeholder engagement for the ramp removal study.
Grabowski said the goal is to let residents know the project is still happening, even though some people might have thought a failed T-SPLOST referendum had effectively ended the initiative.
In fact, Harris said funding from a previous cycle had provided enough to complete this second phase and, perhaps, enough for some of the environmental study. Additional funds will be needed for the later stages, including preliminary engineering, final design and construction.
In the meantime, the project team will continue giving community updates, with meetings scheduled for May and October of this year.
Susan Myers, a local realtor and member of the planning commission board, attended the Thursday afternoon update. She was a member of the Savannah Development Renewal Authority when it first tackled the issue of revitalization along MLK in the early 2000s, before it was handed over to the MPC.
Myers said she doesn’t really remember the flyover’s installation but recalls the mindset of the time.
“It was the same time when they tore the city market down and put up the parking garage, it was all the same idea — this was urban renewal,” said Myers. “Bring the car down to the center of town and everyone will be happy, and we’ve obviously learned that doesn’t work.”
Thomson said planners are sensitive to concerns from commuters about the potential impact, but said Savannah is a good city for mobility even without the ramp.
“I think there are 12 major portals into the city,” said Thomson. “There are a significant number of major roadways that provide access to all sides of the city.”
With the ramp’s removal, about five acres of public land could be reclaimed and another 12.5 acres of vacant or under-utilized private land could be re-developed as well.
One of the areas most affected by the flyover was a once-thriving neighborhood called Frogtown, which dates back to the American Revolution and was settled by freed slaves after the Civil War.
By the 1970s, many of its residents had moved away and the city’s health department condemned more than a dozen homes that had fallen into disrepair, effectively emptying the area of inhabitants.
Union Station, an architecturally stunning structure razed by the city in the early ‘60s, ahead of the highway, also used to stand there.
“It was the mecca of the African American business community,” said Mayor Edna Jackson of West Broad, who grew up in an adjacent neighborhood called Currytown.
Shinhoster and Jackson would both like to see the area restored with the shops and businesses they once enjoyed, as well as affordable housing for young people and families who can’t pay downtown prices.
“I really would like to see us try to reclaim a lot of the usages that were here, where there was definitely community,” said Shinhoster.
FAQ
The new website for the I-16 flyover removal project has a frequently asked question section. Below are a few of those inquiries with answers provided by Metropolitan Planning Commission staff. For more information – or if you have more questions on the project – go to ReclaimingOldWestBroad.org.
Why remove the I-16 flyover?
When Interstate 16 was constructed, the neighborhoods and businesses along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (called West Broad at the time), were severely impacted. The removal of the flyover will restore the fabric of this community and aid in revitalization of the community.
When will the flyover be removed?
Assuming that funding is in place, this process can typically takes 8-10 years to complete, depending on the overall complexity. The current analysis — the Interchange Modification Report (IMR) — is one piece of a larger federal process required for making changes to an interstate interchange. The next steps are: completion of an environmental document, preliminary engineering, final design and construction.
I thought this project ended when the Transportation Investment Act (TIA, also known as “T-SPLOST”) didn’t pass?
The I-16 flyover removal was included as project that would have been funded by the TIA revenue. Since TIA did not pass for our region, other funding sources will be needed to implement the changes. However, the project development and permitting is still moving forward.