THE IMPACT OF THE DAN RYAN EXPRESSWAY RECONSTRUCTION PROJECT ON AIR QUALITY

Our experiences with the impact that the demolition of public housing along the State Street corridor had on outdoor air quality and on asthma and respiratory health helped us address the impact the Dan Ryan Expressway Project was having on the health of our community residents. GBF President Greg Washington chaired the environmental health committee of the task force Governor Blagojevich established on the impact of the Dan Ryan Reconstruction Project on the neighborhoods adjacent to the project. The final report of that committee challenged the claims of both the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Authority findings that the Expressway reconstruction project would have a minimal effect on outdoor air quality and on environmental health. We predicted that both the release of dust and other particulate matter and the increase use of diesel fuels by vehicles involved in the reconstruction project would have detrimental effects on air quality and thus on the health and well being of residents in neighborhoods adjacent to the construction project. We also raised serious concerns about the impact noise levels associated with the construction and vibrations caused by the use of heavy excavating equipment and trucks would have on the health and well being of residents and their property.

Under the leadership of Robin Black, then chief of staff to IDOT Secretary Tim Martin, and from pressure from asthma researchers and community activists, IDOT began to address some of the concerns raised by the Task Force report and concerns raised by community members in meetings. The Grand Boulevard Federation was finally asked to join the Health Focus Group that IDOT had convened to look at the impact large scale highway construction projects in urban neighborhoods would have on the health of residents living and working adjacent to such projects.

In the fall of 2005, IDOT asked the Federation to canvass residents who lived on the two streets adjacent to the Dan Ryan, Wells and Wentworth, between 35th and 59th Street to determine their concerns about the impact the reconstruction project was having on their health, property and well being. We trained five community residents to conduct the canvassing and to inform residents who had asthma or other respiratory health concerns on how to best reduce the impact of dust on their health and to make sure they were connected with a health provider.

With funds from an environmental education grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, we created, in partnership with the American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago and Dr. Sam Dorevitch, a large poster board that gave the regional air quality alert status and steps residents should take if the air alert was red or orange, the two highest alert warning indicators. These posters were placed at 12 community centers throughout Grand Boulevard. Two of our community asthma educators called these centers each day to give them updated information on the air quality status for that day. We conducted a number of workshops in the community on the impact the reconstruction project was having on air quality and respiratory health. This work was also funded under the grant from the U.S. EPA.

Last year the Federation worked out a process where we received calls from residents when they saw high levels of dust being generated by construction activity along the Dan Ryan. We then notified the engineers at IDOT who were directly responsible for overseeing the contractors doing the construction so that increased watering could be done to minimize the dust levels.

We think this is a critical component in insuring that residents are not adversely affected by high dust levels. It is our contention that the system that IDOT established to monitor particulate levels along the Dan Ryan during the construction process does not capture local areas of high dust. It is the reports of residents and those driving on the Dan Ryan that provide a critical warning that high dust levels are being generated at a particular location.