BX Groups Call on Gov. Hochul to Reject $150M Plan to Expand Cross Bronx Expressway

BRONX, NY (07/16/2025) (readMedia)-- More than two dozen Bronx-based and citywide organizations sent a letter calling on the New York State Department of Transportation to withdraw its current proposals for the Cross Bronx "Five Bridges Project," and instead adopt community-driven alternatives focused on safer, greener, and more equitable outcomes for Bronx residents along the expressway.

New York State DOT is proposing a $900 million plan (including $150 million of state funding) to expand the Cross Bronx Expressway - a corridor linked to decades worth of public health harms and environmental injustice - with a new, unnecessary highway structure over Starlight Park and the Bronx River. Today, local residents suffer disproportionate rates of pollution-driven childhood asthma and heart disease, due to Robert Moses' racist urban planning, which razed communities of color to make room for the expressway in the 1950's. DOT's proposed highway expansion would only compound the Cross Bronx's worst environmental inequities.

"The Cross Bronx Expressway is a relic of exclusionary urban planning that continues to sicken and pollute local communities. Instead of pouring more concrete over our river and neighborhoods, State DOT should deliver real environmental justice to South Bronx families by rejecting this misguided project. We need a Cross Bronx that actually serves us," said Siddhartha Sánchez, Executive Director of Bronx River Alliance.

Yesterday, City Limits covered the letter and the larger community's opposition to DOT's plans:

"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 non-profit Bronx River Alliance."

Read the full City Limits story here or below.

In the letter, community leaders criticized NYSDOT's proposed Options 1 and 2, either adding yet another highway structure or a mostly unusable shared path for bicyclists and pedestrians along a heavily trafficked, isolated stretch of the Cross Bronx. Signatories emphasized that these plans would worsen air pollution, heat, and stormwater impacts, while violating the state's 2019 Climate Act and deepening harm in historically overburdened communities already segregated by the expressway. In the letter, the groups write:

"... The 5 Bridges Project, as it stands, would squander taxpayer dollars, worsen the air and water quality of the surrounding area, and bring further environmental harm to a neighborhood composed entirely of disadvantaged communities (DACs). To repair the harms that the Cross Bronx Expressway continues to inflict and make choices that will have generational impacts, we must plan for and incentivize a dramatically new future for the CBE, including a major reduction of traffic and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on the roadway."

Local residents have shared their vision for a cleaner Cross Bronx that creates truly accessible pathways for pedestrians and cyclists, while protecting communities from further pollution and sickness. Instead of expanding the Cross Bronx footprint, the letter's signatories urge NYSDOT to focus on repairing existing bridges and reconnecting neighborhoods along the east and west portions of the expressway. They further advocate for follow through on the community's long-delayed plans to enhance safety along some of the Cross Bronx's most dangerous intersections, including 174th Street, 177th Street, and East Tremont Avenue.

Read the full letter and list of signatories here.

City Limits: 'I Have Real Fears': Bronx Community Members Blast Proposal to Add More Road to Cross Bronx Expressway

By Mariana Simões

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 non-profit 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.

About Bronx River Alliance: The Bronx River Alliance serves as a coordinated voice for the river and works in harmonious partnership to protect, improve and restore the Bronx River corridor so that it can be a healthy ecological, recreational, educational and economic resource for the communities through which the river flows.

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