‘I Have Real Fears’: Bronx Community Members Blast Proposal to Add More Road to Cross Bronx Expressway

In a letter addressed to the state’s Department of Transportation, Bronx residents called adding a mile-long stretch to the Cross Bronx Expressway a “dangerous and unacceptable” solution to renovating some of its aging infrastructure.

A proposal to repair five Cross Bronx Expressway (CBE) bridges along Interstate 95, that could involve building a mile-long, highway-like structure over the Bronx River and Starlight Park to bypass traffic, is shaking up members of the Bronx community.

More than two dozen community organizations delivered a letter to the state’s Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) last week urging the department to skip the added structure and repair the bridges instead with minimal impact to the community. 

Adding to the expressway, which is already considered one of the most congested roads in the nation, could amp up pollution in a neighborhood where children face higher rates of asthma-related hospital visits than any other borough.

“I have real fears. I know many kids in our neighborhood have asthma and are getting sent to the hospital on a regular basis. I don’t want that for my kid,” said Victoria Toro, a Bronx born and raised outreach manager at the nonprofit Bronx River Alliance.

The NYSDOT has presented two possible solutions to modernize the bridges that are still up for discussion. One includes building a so-called traffic diversion “connector” road with a series of sub-options for its uses—including the possibility of a bike and pedestrian path—while the second solution skips the connector road and suggests standard bridge repairs instead.

But officials argued that construction plans would be reduced by two years with option one, and the state has already been awarded a $150 million federal grant to build the connector road, spreading fears among residents that the DOT will choose that approach.

“The project is not an expansion of the expressway and a number of options are being considered to accommodate existing expressway traffic and improve bike/pedestrian connectivity,” a DOT spokesperson said in an email. 

“The NYSDOT is committed to robust community engagement at every step in the process and the selection of an option will be informed by public input.”

Community members have already offered criticism for the current proposal. Especially since the traffic diversion structure in option one would pass right by Bronx River Houses, a public housing complex that over 3,000 residents call home. 

“Currently, the air pollution from the Cross Bronx Expressway is so toxic that those of us who live in Bronx River Houses cannot open our windows. Ever,” Norma Saunders, president of the Tenant Association for Bronx River Houses, said in a press release.

“The idea that the State wants to make it wider to add traffic and bring it even closer to our homes is like a death threat,” she added.

Option one or option two?

Constructed between 1947 and 1958, the CBE’s five corroding bridges are nearing the end of their service life as many of their steel and concrete parts are deteriorating.

To tackle the problem, DOT is working on an environmental assessment that analyzes the potential social, economic, and environmental impacts of two possible solutions.

A draft of the assessment will be published sometime later this year, according to the DOT. And after a public comment period concludes, it will release a final draft with a decision on which solution was chosen. The timeline for construction will be determined when this process wraps, the department says.

Option one includes building a “connector road” to divert traffic between Boston Road and Rosedale Avenue, which officials say will be necessary to allow cars to bypass construction while bridge renovations are underway. After construction wraps, however, DOT suggests keeping the structure and converting it into a permanent road. 

Those who oppose the addition of the connector road fear that it would harm the Bronx River beneath it and contribute to poorer air quality in the neighborhood.  

The letter delivered by Bronx community groups to the DOT calls option one “dangerous and unacceptable.” Adding the parallel roadway will increase heat to the river habitat, they argue, and increase the need to manage stormwater “which is currently not properly controlled from existing highway infrastructure.”

A hot bed for industrial activity since the 1800s, the Bronx River already receives 455 million gallons of untreated sewage a year, and residents fear it will face more pollution with new construction. 

Industrial warehouses and traffic congestion also contribute to elevated levels of air pollution in the region. One recent study that tracked air pollution throughout the course of a day found that “the Bronx has the worst air quality of any New York City borough”.

To ease concerns raised by the community, DOT told City Limits that the Bronx River would be protected via appropriate soil erosion and sediment control measures. And the agency promised to conduct an air quality analysis as part of its environmental assessment to evaluate the potential impacts of traffic pattern changes to air quality. 

Plus, option one includes a series of possible uses for the connector once construction is completed that could allow for less traffic congestion. DOT’s menu of alternate uses for the road include a mix of approaches, from having a four lane highway with general traffic lanes alongside a bus corridor to a smaller bike- and pedestrian-only path.

Still, community members aren’t convinced. They explain in their letter to the DOT that option two, which doesn’t include the traffic diversion structure, is a better alternative. 

The second option would include instead a series of standard repairs to the deteriorating bridges like the Boston Road Bridge. And it would add some smaller structures, like a new ramp from the southbound Bronx River Parkway to the westbound Cross Bronx Expressway, plus a new roundabout on Sheridan Boulevard.

The letter does, however, take issue with some aspects of that option as well. Residents don’t like that it includes the construction of a shared-use path along the CBE that would connect the Bronx River Greenway to local streets. 

The path “would be unusable due to its isolation and proximity to the Cross Bronx traffic,” the letter says. By adding this extra stretch, the state would be saddling themselves with “an additional maintenance burden” that would only “further widen the Expressway’s mainline” and leave it “vulnerable to future use by private vehicles.”

Making the connection 

On the other hand, the state argues that the neighborhood needs to be better connected so that people and goods can get from east to west with more ease.  

A disconnected and irregular street grid, plus the fact that Bronx subway lines only run north to south, contribute to the problem. 

But community and environmental advocates say there are other ways to get people and goods from east to west without adding more highways. 

The Bronx River Alliance, for one, is cooking up a list of granular recommendations for the DOT on how to enhance east-to-west connectivity for commuters by improving current streets and adding new pedestrian and bike routes.

They also point out that the surrounding waterways should be used more as an alternate route to moving commercial goods around the area. They urge the city to invest more in its Blue Highway program, which encourages waterborne freight transportation by private companies.

Environmental advocates also note that the city should be thinking of the bridge repairs as a chance to come up with new, creative solutions to the city’s larger congestion problem.

“We support prioritizing safety by replacing the bridges,” said Tiffany-Ann Taylor, vice president for transportation at the Regional Plan Association. 

“But in the same vein, this is an opportunity to think about how we are moving goods and people in our region, and if our policies align with our future goals of reducing our dependency on roadway infrastructure,” she added.

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