A view of traffic on the Cross Bronx Expressway.
Photo by Jonathan Portee
Advocates against a state plan to widen the Cross Bronx Expressway on Monday urged Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) to halt the current project ahead of a crucial Tuesday deadline.
During a virtual March 9 press conference, the advocates pleaded for the state to abandon its current scheme for refurbishing parts of the infamous highway that cuts across the South Bronx before it has to submit its chosen plan — known as a final environmental determination — to the federal government on Tuesday.
“We are calling on Governor Hochul and New York state to halt any expansion and prioritize the health of Bronx communities, before it’s too late,” said Renee Reynolds, executive director of Tri-State Transportation Campaign, during the news conference.
The $900 million plan, known as the Five Bridges Project, aims to rehabilitate several of the highway’s overpasses between Rosedale Avenue and Boston Road. However, the proposal will also expand the road by widening each shoulder by 25 feet, increasing its footprint by a combined 50 feet, in order to meet current safety standards.
Advocates argue that any widening of the existing Cross Bronx’s footprint would make the already heavily used road even more congested. They say it will only exacerbate the rampant pollution that the highway has saddled adjacent communities with for decades.
Reynolds also challenged the NYSDOT’s contention that widening the road’s shoulders will make it safer.
“Widening a highway doesn’t inherently enhance safety by any means,” she said. “In fact, it actually induces more vehicular congestion.”
The advocates charged that NYSDOT is pushing through a plan that does not adequately account for its potential impacts on communities surrounding the highway.
Furthermore, Siddhartha Sánchez, executive director of the Bronx River Alliance, said the agency has ignored alternative plans they have presented for rehabbing the road without expanding it, while refusing to further extend the public engagement period on its draft plan — known as an environmental assessment. The agency released the 6,000-page environmental assessment during the holiday season, which advocates say did not give the public enough time to dig into it.
“The reality is that we didn’t hear back from the state in any meaningful way around those concerns,” he said. “Hearing how the community feels about this project…is not a priority for the state.”
NYSDOT did not respond to amNewYork’s request for comment.
But NYSDOT spokesperson Rolando Infante insisted to the Bronx Times last week that “we have engaged with the community at every step of the way, making significant changes to the proposed alternatives in direct response to public feedback.”
The state backed off on its initial plan to add a mile-long expansion to the highway.
Damon Gilbert, an attorney with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, said they are weighing whether to take legal action against the state once it releases its final plan. Advocates have four months once NYSDOT releases its decision to appeal it.
“We still have some time to think about it, because the final EA [Environmental Assessment] has not come out,” Gilbert said. “So based on the comments, the community pushback, a lot of the draft EA’s elements, we have to then go through the final EA and see what the final agency action is, see how our advocacy has affected things. And then the community will be able to make.”
