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At Clark Reservation State Park, wildlife sensitive to sound pollution — like the endangered Indiana bat — are able to survive on the reservation despite the light hum of the highway.

But experts say that construction during the I-81 Viaduct Project could uproot the reservation’s function as a sanctuary for Indiana bats and other wildlife sensitive to noise. A state judge ruled to halt the project, which was set to replace the viaduct with a Community Grid alternative, this month after Renew 81 for All filed its second lawsuit against the Federal Highway Administration and its New York administrator.

In the case that the project does move forward, the growing traffic and construction will lead to sound, light and noise pollution which would disrupt the survival of the bats, said Jason Luscier, an associate professor at LeMoyne College studying urbanization’s effect on wildlife.

The bats shouldn’t be affected if construction continues on schedule, because it hibernates over the winter, Luscier said. But if construction is delayed into the spring, when the bats are done hibernating for the winter, Luscier said he worries it could interfere with their environment. The bats also may come out of hibernation sooner with warmer winters, he said.

“If it were to continue into the start of spring, into periods when bats emerge from their hibernacula, they’ll have their pups at that time,” Luscier said. “I think it’s a particularly vulnerable time for them.”

Air and noise pollution may also disrupt workplaces, neighborhoods and local species, said Ed Michalenko, supervisor for the town of Dewitt, president of Onondaga Environmental Institute and a supporter of Renew 81

The Department of Transportation released a draft of the project’s Environmental Impact Statement on April 15, which claimed the project won’t cause major environmental impacts. Michalenko wrote 30 pages worth of concerns in response to the final statement.

But Curtis Jetter, the NYS DOT’s spokesman, said noise pollution shouldn’t be an issue. He said the DOT is limiting tree removals within 100 feet of the highway, using 481 during the bats’ off season — between November 1 and March 31 — and installing sound barriers next to the highway. Jetter said the reservation and the bats won’t be affected and the DOT will monitor the situation throughout construction.

Still, Michalenko said he isn’t satisfied with the statement’s precautions and provisions, and questions how useful the barriers will be.

The bats live on the same cliff that is being used to prevent noise pollution, Michalenko said. Beyond the endangered Indiana bat, eight out of the nine New York state bat species use the Butternut Creek corridor along 481, said Jonathan Kresge, a member of the DeWitt Advisory Conservation Commission who focused on tracking the echolocation sound waves of Syracuse bats.

Michalenko says the DOT didn’t gather any empirical data based on real sounds, saying the plans and research have all been “computer exercise,” as well as that its traffic study and interpretation of feedback hasn’t been thorough enough.

“They did the traffic study for the one little mile and a half area of 81 and they looked at it in absence of looking at all other traffic patterns,” Michalenko said. “They haven’t finished the public input process in my mind.”

Published on November 29, 2022 at 11:55 pm