Bronx Communities: Gov Hochul, Don't Expand the Cross Bronx Expressway!

BRONX, NY (03/27/2026) (readMedia)-- Today, outside the Bronx River Art Center, a dozen community groups, local residents, and electeds held a rally urging Governor Hochul and the State Department of Transportation to halt all remaining plans to expand the Cross Bronx Expressway, and repair the highway within its existing footprint. After missing the original federal deadline to finalize the project's environmental determination on March 10th, state officials are still weighing plans to widen the Cross Bronx 50 feet closer to 3,000 public housing residents already battling toxic air quality across the street. With a decision slated for this spring, NYSDOT now has until April 7th to issue its final design plan for the project.

Watch a recording of the event here.

During the original public comment period, community members identified significant health and environmental impacts for the 64,000-plus residents living along the sited project area - all tied to the state's expansion plans. Per NYSDOT's own environmental assessment, widening the Cross Bronx could increase truck traffic by up to 33% during peak times. Despite repeated requests to extend the public comment period and explore safer project alternatives aligned with the Reimagine the Cross Bronx vision, state officials have yet to consider solutions that effectively reduce traffic and pollution. Under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, impacted residents have up to 4 months to appeal NYSDOT's final decision, if officials move forward with an expansion.

"With a Cross Bronx expansion still on the table, decades of progress are on the line. Our communities have fought long and hard to restore the Bronx River from an open sewer and transform the surrounding area. But with families here still choking on highway pollution, our work is far from over. We refuse to stand by and watch state officials take the Bronx back half a century with even more traffic and pollution. That's why we're urging the Governor to halt the expansion and invest in mitigation to protect our communities before history repeats itself," said Siddhartha Sánchez, Executive Director of the Bronx River Alliance.

"With firm conviction, I oppose the proposed expansion of the Cross Bronx Expressway because it poses a direct threat to the health, well-being, and quality of life of communities that have endured the environmental, social, and economic impacts of this highway for decades. Highway expansion has disproportionately harmed low-income communities for generations, exposing residents to polluted air and contributing to alarming rates of respiratory illnesses such as asthma. Instead of continuing to invest in infrastructure that deepens inequality and increases pollution, we must prioritize solutions that center environmental justice, public health, and equitable transportation," said State Senator Luis R. Sepúlveda. "Today, more than 142,000 children in New York City are living with asthma, and the Bronx continues to experience some of the highest asthma rates in the city, especially in neighborhoods located near major highways. This must end. That is why I am working on legislation called the Stop Highway Community Harm Act (S9593) alongside Assemblymember Emerita Torres. This bill takes a concrete step to protect public housing residents by prohibiting highway expansions near their homes and placing the health of our communities at the center of infrastructure decisions. Since 2012, I have been warning the public about the long-term harm the Cross Bronx Expressway has had on our residents' health. The Bronx cannot continue to be treated as a sacrifice zone. I want to work with Governor Hochul and the New York State Department of Transportation to halt this expansion and instead invest in solutions that reduce pollution, improve mobility, and create healthier neighborhoods for Bronx families, with full transparency and community participation throughout the process."

"With a 50-foot Cross Bronx expansion now looming, families at Bronx River Houses are terrified for our children's health and futures. We make up a community of more than 3,000 residents, where kids and seniors are forced to breathe in toxic pollution every single day, right across the street from the highway. Living in public housing doesn't give officials a free pass to stiff New Yorkers with dirty emissions. We are calling on Governor Hochul to reject this expansion and protect our families before time runs out," said Norma Saunders, Bronx River Houses Resident Association President.

"The Cross Bronx expansion should not be allowed, as it causes harm to the people AND the world we live in. Making the bridge above Starlight Park wider, or even making a bridge in general, can make pollution risks higher. 150,000 cars a day already cross the highway. Widening the highway can increase the amount of cars and pollution in our community, which raises the risk of getting asthma and other respiratory illnesses that can affect people for a long time - maybe even for their entire lives. This is especially important for me and my peers because growing up in these conditions can cause real harm to us and our future," said Oliver Olivencia, 10th grader at Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School.

"Governor Kathy Hochul and the State Department of Transportation have a golden opportunity to correct the past and reject a tired, outdated model that leaves Black and Brown communities suffering from the negative impacts of highways. Widening the Cross Bronx would deepen harm to the Bronx community, reinforce historical divisions, and divert money better served by investing in public transit, a true economic engine of our city. Bronx residents deserve clean, world-class connections to jobs, healthcare, and public spaces throughout their borough and the rest of the city. Adding more lanes to this roadway would only lead to more trucks and cars spewing exhaust, worsening asthma, heart disease, and other illnesses. This is not the vision the Bronx community has for itself, and certainly not the vision our Governor and agency leaders should pursue," said Renae Reynolds, Executive Director of Tri-State Transportation Campaign.

"Bronx families deserve healthy environments where they can live, play, work, and worship without fear of cumulative impacts from longstanding pollution," said Dr. Charles Moon, MD FAAP, Chair of the New York State Chapter 3 of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Environmental Health & Climate Change. "After decades of suffering because of top down decisions made during the Robert Moses years, Bronx residents do not need history to repeat itself here through further expansions closer to families' homes in neighborhoods that already suffer from some of the highest childhood asthma rates in the city and across the country. Local pediatricians urge the state to hear Bronx communities' concerns and choose a final design plan that centers justice and health, not doubling down on the CBE's toxic legacy."

"The Bronx Council for Environmental Quality has among its principles: 'Keeping the environment free from further construction, encroachment, ecological destruction and pollution.' That means every project should make the environment BETTER. This project will make the environment worse. Don't make the Cross Bronx bigger, make it better," said Dart Westphal, former President, Bronx Council for Environmental Quality.

"New York State DOT has recently listened to residents of the Bronx who live on Birchall Street by the Bronx Park East #2 train station - just 2 subway stops away from the Cross Bronx Expressway - heard their concerns, and agreed not to place a new roadway right next to a residential building, where it would cut right through naturally forested parkland. It is time for them to listen again to Bronx residents - this time the ones who live between 174th and 177th Street on either side of the Bronx River - and not expand the Cross Bronx Expressway over Starlight Park, over the Bronx River, and right next to NYCHA's Bronx River Houses," said Diana Finch, Chair, Bronx Park East Community Association.

"As a Bronx resident for half a century, I have long bemoaned the horrible negative impact of the Cross Bronx Expressway on our borough. While I am grateful that everyone now agrees we need to fix this problem, expansion is not the solution. We need solutions that reduce carbon emissions, open green spaces for our communities, and relieve dangerous congestion. The Bronx deserves better," said Jack M Gorman MD, Member, Bronx Jews for Climate Action.

"As a member of the Bronx Climate and Environmental Justice Network, my organization, Jewish Climate Action Network NYC, knows the harm that comes when policymakers do not listen to the community. We join the Stop the Cross Bronx Expansion Coalition in calling on the state to listen to the Bronx community impacted by the Cross Bronx Expressway and find solutions to repair the bridges without widening the highway. These solutions will provide much needed improvements to the air quality and noise in the area and also move us closer to the State's climate goals," said Wendy Seligson, Co-Director of the Jewish Climate Action Network NYC.

"The communities we've worked closely with in the Bronx live in the shadow of the Cross Bronx Expressway, where air pollution continues to harm residents' health. The proposed 5 Bridges Project, as we know it, would widen the highway by another 50 feet as early as this spring, raising serious concerns about the safety and well-being of our neighbors in the Bronx. Before officials finalize the project's design on April 7, we strongly condemn its harmful impacts and urge the state to pursue safer alternatives. Once again, we ask that the NYSDOT consider community alternatives. Instead of widening highways, we must invest in our public transit system and focus on reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMTs)," said Adrian Cacho, Senior Organizer at Open Plans.

"We are in solidarity with communities from the Bronx in their opposition to the expansion of the Cross-Bronx Expressway. For decades our communities across Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx have been experiencing the cumulative health and environmental impacts of living next to highways like the Cross-Bronx and the BQE - breathing toxins and being deprived of green public spaces. It is long-overdue for our state and city agencies to prioritize the health and wellbeing of people affected by these highways," said Daniela Castillo, Program Director, Green Light District, El Puente.

"The Cross Bronx has been one of the most environmentally harmful pieces of infrastructure to ever be constructed in New York City. As co-founders of the BQE Environmental Justice Coalition, we see many of the same forces advocating for improvements to parts of the BQE with little acknowledgement to the health and social impacts in the neighborhoods it goes through. NYC-EJA stands in solidarity with our members and allies in the South Bronx in supporting a new vision for the expressway that prioritizes environmental justice for the communities it goes through and not just the vehicles that use it," said Eddie Bautista, Executive Director, NYC Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA).

"Any investment in the Cross Bronx Expressway must protect clean waterways, strengthen resilience, and put equity first. Expanding the highway would increase runoff and pollution into the Bronx River and deepen long?standing environmental harms. We need a path forward that repairs aging infrastructure without widening the expressway and that genuinely centers community health in the planning process," said Julie Raskin, President & CEO, Waterfront Alliance.

"Community members have already worked diligently to come up with the best solution for the South Bronx. Bronx families have been clear: they would accept two additional years of Cross Bronx construction over 80 more years of increased noise, pollution, and preventable health harm. Yet, after missing the original federal deadline, the state is still considering widening the Cross Bronx-pushing it 50 feet closer to 3,000 public housing residents already breathing toxic air. NYSDOT's own data shows an expansion could increase peak truck traffic by 33 percent, doubling down on the damage of Robert Moses' racist decision. Repairs that worsen air quality and deepen inequity defeat their very purpose. Governor Hochul, the people of the Bronx are asking you to stop. Patagonia joins them in urging state officials to halt all remaining plans to expand the Cross Bronx Expressway and instead repair the highway within its existing footprint," said Leticia de Mello Bueno, Activism Lead, Patagonia UWS/Patagonia NYC.

BACKGROUND

The New York State Department of Transportation is currently proposing the Cross Bronx "5 Bridges Project," a $900-million plan (including $150 million of federal funding for reconnecting communities harmed by highways) that threatens to exacerbate environmental inequities facing the South Bronx. Despite heeding community concerns and scrapping four of its most noxious plans - including a new mile-long polluting roadway - Governor Hochul and NYSDOT are not reducing traffic and are still proposing expanding the Cross Bronx by 50 feet.

The Stop the Cross Bronx Expansion Coalition is urging NYSDOT and Governor Hochul to conduct the needed standard bridge repair without expanding the highway, and work with community members toward more equitable, environmentally just traffic and air quality solutions for the corridor.

Why Expanding the Cross Bronx Isn't Viable

The Cross Bronx's enormous environmental footprint has only worsened over the years. In the U.S., fossil fuel-powered vehicles are a major source of air pollution and heat-trapping emissions, releasing more than 50% of the nitrogen oxide found in our air. Nearly 150,000 vehicles, including 18,000 trucks, use the Cross Bronx daily. State DOT's environmental assessment notes that during peak times, heavy truck traffic could increase by as much as 33% if the agency proceeds with an expansion.

In 2022, NYSDOT illegally dumped pieces of the roadway directly into the Bronx River after demolishing a Cross Bronx entrance ramp during a similar rehabilitation project. Even if the state files permits, local residents are still concerned that DOT's project may similarly impact the river, under the current "5 Bridges" project. Thanks to sustained remediation efforts, wildlife has slowly returned to the river following the incident, including threatened birds such as herons and even dolphins. But during ongoing river clean-ups with local volunteers, residents continue to find construction waste tossed from the expressway into the recovering waterway. State DOT's remaining plan threatens to reverse this hard-won progress and drive worsened air quality, increased pollution, and more chronic illness in an already overburdened community.

Community Alternatives for the Cross Bronx

Since the 1970s, community members have long advocated for investment in safe, dignified, and simple improvements for South Bronx neighborhoods. After years of grassroots organizing to expand and transform the former industrial site into a vital community resource, Starlight Park has recently doubled in size; the state-proposed expansion now threatens this precious parkland. Meanwhile, existing east-west corridors along the Cross Bronx, including some of its most dangerous intersections on 174th Street, 177th Street, and East Tremont Avenue have been ignored and neglected for decades.

In 2014, City Council awarded NYCDOT the funds to create signalized crossings at five intersections around E 177th St. and E Tremont Ave. Over a decade later, the project still hasn't been completed, depriving local residents of accessible pathways. The state's planned expansion ignores the rest of E 177th St and other proposed connections along the highway, in a departure from residents' top priorities. As outlined in the community's visioning process for the Cross Bronx, Bronxites are seeking alternatives that reduce traffic, restore community access to green space, and reconnect riverside neighborhoods along the expressway.

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.

About the Stop the Cross Bronx Expansion Coalition: The Stop the Cross Bronx Expansion coalition is composed of Bronx grassroots groups, environmental justice organizations, and advocates for safe and healthy transportation. Together, we are fighting to implement a positive community-led vision that reverses the harms done to the public health, environment, and social and economic life of the Bronx by the Expressway. To realize this vision requires stopping new highway expansions along the Cross Bronx – beginning with New York State DOT's current plan to widen the CBE.

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