Bronx Community Ramps Up Fight Against $150M Plan to Expand Cross Bronx Expressway

BRONX, NY (07/18/2025) (readMedia)-- As the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) weighs options to rehabilitate the Cross Bronx Expressway - including the addition of yet another, unnecessary highway that threatens community health - the Stop the Cross Bronx Expansion Coalition is calling on Governor Hochul to adopt safer, community-backed alternatives to improve the Expressway. In case you missed it:

  • As covered in City Limits, more than a dozen Bronx-based and citywide organizations sent a letter calling on the state DOT to withdraw its current proposals, following widespread community backlash regarding their potential to "amp up pollution in a neighborhood where children face higher rates of asthma-related hospital visits than any other borough."
  • Last week, Bronx12 joined the Bronx River Alliance for a Cross Bronx walkthrough touring DOT's river-dumping site and the surrounding corridor, where local residents are "suffer[ing] from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)" and other chronic health conditions linked to highway pollutants.
  • Last week, amNY and Bronx Times published a story revealing DOT's history of illegal dumping along the Bronx River following a 2022 Cross Bronx demolition project, and spotlighting residents' fears of increased pollution as the agency prepares to replace the Expressway over the Bronx River and Starlight Park.
  • In honor of National Highway Day, Siddhartha Sánchez, Executive Director of Bronx River Alliance, and Jaqi Cohen, Director of Climate & Equity Policy at Tri-State Transportation Campaign authored an op-ed urging DOT to halt the project and commit to alternatives that protect Bronx communities.
  • Last month, members of the coalition rallied outside a public NYSDOT meeting to oppose the planned expansion of the Cross Bronx Expressway, and call out the agency's limited community engagement. Local Bronx River Houses tenant association president Norma Saunders is quoted sounding the alarm, "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."

BACKGROUND

The New York State Department of Transportation is currently pushing the Cross Bronx "5 Bridges Project," a $900 million plan (including $150 million of federal funding) that threatens to exacerbate the environmental inequities facing the South Bronx The project will directly impact the Bronx overall, with greater harm to the fenceline Central Bronx neighborhoods of West Farms, Crotona, Soundview, Hunts Point, and Longwood, and in particular, the 3,000 local residents at the NYCHA development across the street from the proposed expansion. Following an exclusionary engagement process that offered community members few opportunities for public comment, State DOT has proposed two options that, in addition to replacing the five I-95 bridges along the expressway, would add an unnecessary highway structure over the Bronx River and Starlight Park.

The Stop the Cross Bronx Expansion Coalition is urging DOT and Governor Hochul to reject both options, conduct the needed standard bridge repair without expanding the highway, prepare a full environmental impact statement, and redirect funds meant to reconnect communities toward clean, community-led alternatives.

The Cross Bronx's Legacy of Harms

Born out of a history of racist urban planning under Robert Moses, the Cross Bronx Expressway is already one of the nation's most toxic, congested roadways, long associated with racial health disparities like childhood asthma and heart disease in surrounding communities. Its initial construction decimated Black and Brown neighborhoods along the corridor while adding significant highway pollution to the Bronx River and Harlem River. According to a DOT study, idling cars on the Cross Bronx have polluted the borough for decades, driving chronic health issues among Bronx residents.

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.

In 2022, NYSDOT illegally dumped concrete and other construction debris directly into the Bronx River after demolishing a Cross Bronx entrance ramp, as part of a similar infrastructure 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 planned expansion threatens to reverse this hard-won progress and worsen conditions for a community already overburdened by pollution.

Community Alternatives for the Cross Bronx

Community members have long advocated for investment in safe, dignified, and simple improvements for existing east-west corridors along the Cross Bronx, including some of its most dangerous intersections on 174th Street, 177th Street, and East Tremont Avenue. In 2014, City Council awarded NYCDOT the funds to create signaled crossings at 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 these neglected connections along the highway, in a departure from the community's 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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