Bronx Advocates and Residents Say NO to Cross Bronx Expressway Expansion

BRONX, NY (06/06/2025) (readMedia)-- Yesterday, outside of a New York State Department of Transportation public meeting, the Stop the Cross Bronx Expansion coalition rallied with local residents against the agency's proposed highway expansion. The $900 million plan to repair five Cross Bronx Expressway bridges along Interstate 95 would build another highway structure over the Bronx River and Starlight Park, widening an expressway known to be one the most congested roads in the nation, next to 3,000 residents at Bronx River Houses.

Advocates are urging Governor Hochul and NYSDOT to redirect the $150 million appropriated for the extra roadway to safer alternatives, and to prepare a full environmental impact statement that better analyzes the project's consequences in a community already overburdened by pollution. Of the proposed rehabilitation options, Bronxites are in favor of standard bridge repair with street pedestrian and bicyclist enhancements along the expressway, currently most closely imaged in Option 2.

Bronxites suffer disproportionately from pollution-driven childhood asthma, a direct legacy of the Cross Bronx Expressway's construction, which bulldozed through low-income communities of color via racist urban planning that excluded residents from decision-making. This project continues that exclusionary pattern. With three months till the project's September start date, the agency is only offering residents three in-person meetings, failing to provide a single remote option for the public. For Muslim community members observing the religious holiday, Eid al-Adha, and parents with altered schedules because of school closure, last night's meeting was particularly prohibitive.

Last winter, Bronx and Harlem residents shared their vision for the project through the multiagency-funded Reimagine the Cross Bronx Expressway report, backed by both NYSDOT and NYC DOT. Community members overwhelmingly supported options that reduce traffic, improve air quality, and increase green space and transit access, while reconnecting the neighborhoods long separated by the expressway's construction in the '50s. NYSDOT's proposal does the opposite.

"It's unacceptable to consider building another highway structure over the Bronx River and Starlight Park - right through the heart of our communities that already experience some of the worst air pollution in the country," said Siddhartha Sánchez, Executive Director of the Bronx River Alliance. "We don't need more roads, we need less congestion and cleaner air. NYSDOT must cancel the expansion proposal."

"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. 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," said Norma Saunders, president of the Tenant Association for Bronx River Houses. "We should be trying to reduce traffic and pollution - not putting money into plans that will make it worse."

"In the Bronx, we've seen high rates of asthma and heart disease, which are closely linked to air quality and traffic-related pollution. As a community, we care deeply about improving public health and creating a healthier future for the next generation. When planning infrastructure projects like work on the Cross Bronx, it's important to consider solutions that protect our neighborhoods and avoid adding to existing health burdens. We believe there are ways to repair and improve our roads that prioritize both connectivity and community well-being," said Paloma Izquierdo-Hernández, President and CEO of Urban Health Plan.

"The last thing the Bronx needs is a highway expansion, and we are calling on the Governor to advance community-led solutions and drop outdated efforts to expand noxious infrastructure. In the South Bronx we have been fighting against dangerous and toxic highways for decades and NYSDOT's Option 1 is nothing but a doubling down on the very problem we've been working to cure," said Dariella Rodriguez, Director of Community Development of the POINT CDC.

"Unsurprisingly, Bronx residents are once again excluded from the decision-making process. Any expansion of the Cross Bronx without timely and meaningful community participation continues a harmful legacy that the State should be ashamed of. Restoring trust requires consistent, restorative practices-starting with bringing local residents and local community organizations into the process, start to finish," said Melissa Bosley, Community Organizer at South Bronx Unite.

"The Cross Bronx Expressway has long been a symbol of environmental injustice in our borough -- poisoning our air, dividing our neighborhoods, and endangering our children's health. The proposal to expand this toxic corridor is not progress; it's the complete opposite. I stand with the Bronx River Alliance and the Stop the Cross Bronx Expansion coalition in demanding NYSDOT pursue a responsible alternative that repairs our infrastructure without sacrificing our green space or our community's wellbeing," said Representative Ritchie Torres, Congressman (NY-15).

"I urge the NYS Department of Transportation to listen to our community's concerns about the potential negative impact that the proposed Five Bridges plans and their limited community outreach," said State Senator Gustavo Rivera. "I stand with the Stop the Cross Bronx Coalition in calling for a full and fair consideration of all community-proposed alternatives to the traffic diversion plans. The Cross Bronx has already inflicted enough harm on our borough. We need to listen to the people who live there and respond to their needs."

"The Cross Bronx Expressway has long symbolized environmental injustice in our borough, cutting through our communities and burdening generations with pollution. The current expansion plan threatens to repeat those same mistakes by adding more concrete, more traffic, and more harm without properly listening to the residents who live here. I stand with Bronx residents and advocates in advocating for this process to be more inclusive and for NYSDOT to prioritize the health, safety, and voices of our communities," said Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson.

"As a community arts center, serving the underserved communities of the central Bronx in the shadow of the Cross Bronx, BRAC supports human-centered investments in transportation. Our staff, students, and guests who come to BRAC deserve the basic human dignity to cross the street with ease and without fear of being hit by cars barrelling to and from the highway. The communities in the way of highway construction have long been sacrifice zones and we say enough is enough. No expansion of the Cross Bronx Expressway," said Akia Squitieri, Executive Director, Bronx River Art Center (BRAC).

"As the Bronx and Uptown Organizer for Transportation Alternatives, I have spent countless hours talking to community members about DOT's plans for the Cross Bronx Expressway. The community overwhelmingly supports Option 2, and so does this coalition. If you live and work here, you understand the feeling of being surrounded by highways. We are saying not another highway, not again, not here. For once, let's put the people of the Bronx first," said Anna Berlanga, Bronx and Uptown Organizer for Transportation Alternatives.

"I'm a born and raised Bronx resident from Co-Op City who moved to this area of the Bronx three years ago. In the time that I've lived here, my body feels attacked on all fronts. No matter which direction I walk, I'm surrounded by highways... my lungs are constantly fighting. I walk down the sidewalk in the summer, trying not to pass out from heat stroke and I feel the heat from parked cars, car exhaust, and the concrete suffocating me," said Anike Cherry, local resident and member of Morning Glory Community Garden. "We need trees. We need soil. We need native plants and parks, community gardens and rain gardens. We need true and safe pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure. We need safe, reliable public transit. We do not need highway expansions and fake 'multi modal connectors.' So DOT, what we the community affected by this project are telling you is, do the bridge repairs and leave the rest alone."

"Communities that have suffered from vehicular pollution caused by incessant traffic on the Cross Bronx Expressway have spoken clearly: they don't want more of the same," says Caroline Chen, Environmental Justice Director of the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. "We demand that state and federal agencies tasked with repairing this ailing infrastructure show up with real and meaningful climate-forward and community-healing solutions. Our climate laws require no less, and Bronx families will not settle for less."

"Rather than build a bigger shadow, Governor Hochul should seize this transformative chance to enhance public transit, cycling and pedestrian access on Robert Moses' most notorious artery. The failing five bridges that bisect the Bronx present a unique opportunity for our governor to reconnect neighborhoods and transform environmental health and quality of life. Traffic from Maine to Florida has polluted the Bronx for several decades. It's time our elected leaders side with the communities most impacted and say, 'Enough is enough," said Danny Pearlstein, Policy and Communications Director, Riders Alliance.

"As we argued in our Fourth Regional Plan, any further expansion of the Cross Bronx Expressway would be exactly the opposite of what the moment calls for," said Tiffany-Ann Taylor, Vice President of Transportation at Regional Plan Association (RPA). "We believe the State can find a way to balance the need to repair the bridges without expanding highway infrastructure and hurting hard won reclamation efforts along the Bronx River. A new vision is needed for the Cross Bronx that addresses pollution and noise, and neighborhood health impacts."

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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