Bronx Community Pushes for Extended Public Comment Period As Cross Bronx Enviro Review Collides with Holidays

BRONX, NY (11/25/2025) (readMedia)-- Last week, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, Governor Hochul and the New York State Department of Transportation released its long-awaited Cross Bronx environmental assessment, giving community members a 52-day public comment period overlapping with major holidays to review nearly 6,000 pages of material. During the countdown to the public comment deadline, New Yorkers are planning for several holidays including but not limited to Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day. The state's current review period overlaps with the jam-packed holiday season that families wait all year for, leaving community members only 31 weekdays for public comment.

Watch a recording of the event here.

Just a couple weeks ago, 21 local community and advocacy groups sent a letter to the Governor and NYSDOT requesting a 90-day comment period and enhanced outreach efforts to engage the 64,000 residents living along the project's sited area. For busy Bronx families, meaningful community feedback requires more time.

"The 5 Bridges project is a rehabilitation project on the Cross Bronx - a highway notorious for its generational impacts - and this is an opportunity for undoing the harm the roadway has inflicted. The backbone of our community is working families who've waited decades for real investment in our neighborhoods. After suffering from toxic Cross Bronx pollution for this long, this review process needs to work for us, not around us. Governor Hochul and NYSDOT have listened to communities before, and we ask them again to ensure residents have real opportunities to engage - not a comment period that overlaps with a major holiday season. We look forward to coordinating towards extending the comment period to 90 days," said Siddhartha Sánchez, Executive Director, Bronx River Alliance and member of the Stop the Cross Bronx Expansion Coalition.

"I stand with our Bronx community and urge Commissioner Dominguez to extend the environmental review process for the Cross Bronx 5 Bridge Project to 90 days from the current 52 days. Bronx residents who will be impacted by this $900 million dollar project deserve to spend the holiday season spending time with their families, not reviewing a 6000 page document. The Cross Bronx has caused too much damage in our borough for almost seven decades so it is only fair that we get this project right and ensure future generations in the South Bronx grow up in a safer and healthier environment," said Senator Gustavo Rivera, Health Committee Chair.

"Currently, the air pollution from the Cross Bronx Expressway is so toxic that those of us who live in Bronx River Houses cannot safely open our windows. So imagine our surprise to learn that our families get ONE month to review this project's environmental impacts. We quite literally can't even come up for air," said Norma Saunders, president of the Tenant Association for Bronx River Houses. "The Bronx has waited decades to reimagine the Cross Bronx - we deserve more than a rushed process. Governor Hochul and Commissioner Dominguez must extend the public comment period to 90 days and increase their outreach, so all Bronxites get the chance to weigh in."

"As New York moves forward to fix the Cross Bronx Expressway, it's crucial that we get it right the first time, so we're not creating new problems years down the line. This process needs more community input, and we need to take this opportunity to improve connectivity in the area, especially along Tremont Avenue, 174th, and 177th streets," said Ben Furnas, Executive Director, Transportation Alternatives.

"New Yorkers aren't reading all that," said Riders Alliance Policy & Communications Director Danny Pearlstein of the doorstop assessment. "But when it comes to widening history's most notorious highway, we can't afford to say, 'I'm happy for you tho...or sorry that happened.' We need a serious study, a set of alternatives that do not expand the shadow of the Cross Bronx Expressway, and an end to clever diversions like the cancelled diversion structure, all but designed to distract from the grave harm to the surrounding neighborhoods. Instead, we need more, better and safer options for getting around."

"The state is asking Bronx families to review 6,000 pages during the holidays while our kids are on their longest winter break ever: nearly two full weeks when families should be resting and making memories, not studying technical documents. This timeline simply robs working families of the opportunity to meaningfully participate. After 70 years of harm from the Cross Bronx, we deserve a fighting chance to shape its next 80 years. We're asking Governor Hochul for a 90-day comment period and more public hearings so the Bronx can truly partner for cleaner air and safer streets," said David Shuffler, Executive Director, Youth Ministries for Peace & Justice.

"Public engagement should have a baseline of sufficient time for laypersons to review, digest and thoughtfully comment on the projects at hand," said Caroline Chen, Director of Environmental Justice at the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. "Here we have another example of the State rushing through the regulatory process when it is convenient for the State, but this comes at a huge expense to New Yorkers whose everyday lives will be impacted by the agency decision. We demand better from our elected leaders and government officials."

"The Stop the Cross Bronx Expansion coalition has fought long and hard for this moment, and we insist on adequate time for the community to review the recently released environmental assessment. The current review schedule is unreasonably rushed, and we demand that the NYSDOT extend the timeline. Beyond that, we reiterate our position that there be no widening of the Cross Bronx Expressway, and that the funding be redirected to community-driven alternatives and the commitments highlighted in the Reimagine the Cross Bronx Expressway study," said Adrian Cacho, Senior Organizer, Open Plans.

"Save the Sound believes it is imperative to provide the tens of thousands of residents living along the 5 Bridges project corridor with sufficient time to review the highly technical environmental assessment," said David Abreu, Clean Water Advocacy Specialist, Save the Sound. "With lifetime impacts to water and air quality, tree canopy, and infrastructure on the line, this community engagement process must be inclusive and thorough, and account for the significant interruptions caused by the holiday season."

"As a long-time advocate of effective public participation in major land use and infrastructure projects and a leader in environmental review reform, the Municipal Art Society of New York urges Governor Hochul and the NYSDOT to extend the public review period for the Environmental Assessment for the Cross Bronx Expressway 5 Bridges Project to 90 days. With the holiday season upon us and the magnitude of this project in mind, the additional time will go a long way to ensuring that the final project truly reflects community input," said Keri Butler, President, Municipal Art Society of New York.

"Rushing through three hearings in the midst of the holiday season, with only 30ish working days for comment on a 5,000 + page document, reads more like a box checking exercise than serious community engagement. DOT should be providing ample and accessible opportunities for feedback, not trying to bum-rush the public," said Susan Lerner, Executive Director, Common Cause NY.

Last month, Governor Hochul and NYSDOT heeded community concerns and scrapped plans to build a new, mile-long polluting roadway that would have increased pollution and sickness for more than 64,000 local residents living along the Cross Bronx project area. After agreeing to "work with the community at every step in the process," state and city agency representatives recently joined the Bronx River Alliance, Assemblymember Emérita Torres, and Borough President Gibson for a roundtable to identify forward-thinking improvements for the Cross Bronx corridor.

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 overall width of the Cross Bronx by at least 24 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, a figure that will increase if state DOT proceeds with its planned expansion of the structure.

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 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. Residents successfully advocated for the expansion of Starlight Park, which has doubled in size after years of organizing to transform the space into a vital community resource. But 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 broken ground, depriving local residents of accessible pathways. The state's planned expansion ignores 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.

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Posted Tuesday November 25, 2025 at 11:30 am by Bronx River Alliance
Last Updated Tuesday November 25, 2025 at 03:26 pm