City and state officials on Monday unveiled a Cross Bronx Expressway community-driven, federally funded study on a multi-year effort to reconnect communities that have been divided by the highway for over 50 years.
The NYC and NYS Departments of Transportation (NYC DOT and NYS DOT) released the study’s final vision report on March 10. It includes a series of short-, middle- and long-term goals that address community-identified issues around public health, safety, open space, and traffic congestion. It also includes proposals for street redesigns, transit and accessibility improvements, bike network connections and open streets.
The two-year visioning study also highlights potentially capping — or building green space above — certain areas along the busy highway’s corridor.
Residents and some area politicians have long said that the highway divides neighborhoods, increasing asthma rates while decreasing safety and walkability.
“We are deeply grateful to all the community members who participated in the two-year visioning study, as well as our partners at the state and federal level, for helping us arrive at this day, a solid vision for a more connected, healthier, more walkable Bronx,” said Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi. “We look forward to working with SDOT to advance these concepts through preliminary engineering.”
Many of the study’s short-term projects and programs will start in 2025. They feature new bike connections, better public transit reliability, and enhanced safety for roadway users, state and city officials said.
Some of these immediate projects include:
- Street redesigns to reduce traffic injuries and deaths.
- Planning initiatives to expand the cycling network and redesign intersections for safety.
- Bus stop upgrades, public seating, bike parking and improvements for neighborhoods abutting the highway.
- Developing pedestrian, cycling and public realm improvements between the Bronx Zoo and the Bronx River Greenway.
- Upgrades to make it easier and safer to connect Starlight Park and the Crotona Park East neighborhood as well as between Virginia Park and Virginia Playground.
“With this milestone, New York City takes a huge step towards improving quality of life for the communities that live along the Cross Bronx Expressway,” NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said. “We look forward to advancing these short and mid-term improvements while supporting the state in their efforts to further study long-term solutions that will help create better transportation connections across the entire Cross Bronx corridor.”
The Cross Bronx Expressway is about 7 miles and runs through the Bronx, dividing neighborhoods in a way that advocates have said creates barriers for many residents.
According to the website, Segregation By Design, between 40,000 and 60,000 people were displaced by the construction of the highway, which started in 1948 — amid an era in which master builder Robert Moses spearheaded a campaign to ram expressways across the city landscape.
It would take more than a decade to complete the Cross Bronx Expressway, which is notorious for traffic as it is the primary interstate connection between New England and New Jersey.
Capping certain areas along the Cross Bronx Expressway corridor
Other middle and longer-term projects include more studies, reconstruction along the Jerome Avenue corridor and other areas, and potential highway caps.
Transportation officials said long-term project concepts, including the possible highway caps, would require large amounts of city, state, and federal funding.
However, they explained that once funding is awarded, planning, design, and eventual construction processes could proceed. Each long-term concept would require additional engineering study, design work, environmental review, and extensive community engagement.
The completed study comes three months after a coalition of elected officials and advocates gathered in the Bronx’s Starlight Park on Nov. 25 to launch their “No Cross Bronx Expansion” campaign.
Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director of the Riders Alliance, a bus and subway rider’s advocacy group, said at the launch that expanding the Cross Bronx Expressway would be a mistake “worse” than the canceled “backward boondoggle” LaGuardia AirTrain.
As for the final vision report, he doubled down, saying that thoroughfare needs to be transformed, especially for health reasons.
“After filling kids’ lungs with soot for several decades, the notorious Cross Bronx Expressway must be transformed,” he said. “With support from the Biden administration, city officials conducted a robust community engagement process. Now, it’s time to get the work done, protect families by prioritizing trucks and buses on major parallel streets, and send regional and national traffic away from Bronx children.”
Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson described the final vision report as a “landmark study” that she said is critical for reimagining the highway.
“It is a testament to the power of community-driven solutions as we work to address the public health, safety, and environmental concerns that have for too long affected Bronx residents,” she said.
She added that advancing the study’s goals will improve traffic flow, open space, and accessibility.
“I look forward to continuing to collaborate with our partners at the city and state levels to turn this vision into a reality,” Gibson added.
