Bronx River Alliance Pushes For Community Benefits > Highway Harms, As DOT Punts Cross Bronx Fed Deadline

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BRONX, NY (04/07/2026) (readMedia)-- Today, as state officials extend the federal deadline to finalize design plans and an environmental determination for the Cross Bronx 5 Bridges project a second time, Bronx River Alliance and the Stop the Cross Bronx Expansion Coalition are pushing state officials to ditch the highway expansion and redirect funds toward a cleaner, more resilient future for Bronx communities. Governor Hochul and the State Department of Transportation are still considering expanding the Cross Bronx by another 50 feet, which would only deepen the air quality crisis facing the South Bronx.

View the attached rendering of the proposed expansion.

Last week, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sent a letter urging the Governor to halt the expansion and prioritize standard bridge repairs. In response to mounting advocacy against the Cross Bronx expansion, Assemblymember Emérita Torres and Senator Luis Sepúlveda have also introduced the Stop Highway Community Harm Act to ban New York from widening highways within 200 feet of public housing or in ZIP codes with high asthma rates.

Per NYSDOT's own environmental assessment, widening the Cross Bronx could increase truck traffic by up to 33% during peak times and burden more than 64,000 local residents with significant health and environmental impacts - including 3,000 public housing residents battling toxic air quality at Bronx River Houses roughly 125 feet across from the highway. Despite steady calls to explore safer project alternatives aligned with the Reimagine the Cross Bronx vision, state officials continue to ignore solutions aimed at reducing traffic and pollution. After missing the original federal deadline last month, NYSDOT now has until May 7th to issue its final design plan.

"As we close out today's federal deadline, the Bronx River Alliance and the Stop the Cross Bronx Expansion continue to oppose the proposed expansion. With growing support from our community, including Representative Ocasio-Cortez's call to halt the project and newly proposed legislation from Assemblymember Torres and Senator Sepúlveda, the South Bronx stands firm against any and all proposals to widen the Cross Bronx. Right now, state officials have an opportunity to not only mitigate the Cross Bronx's harms but actually help the Bronx thrive. We remain in talks with the state and want to partner on a plan that maintains the highway's footprint and delivers real community benefits. That means protecting Bronxites from further health and environmental harm and investing in a better Bronx - not a bigger Cross Bronx," said Siddhartha Sánchez, Executive Director of the Bronx River Alliance.

Before officials make a decision this spring, the coalition is urging the Governor to commit to the following community investments:

• Protect and transform E 177 Street into a green corridor ($75-$150M): Fund the redesign of E 177 St to prevent traffic from re-clogging the street, including green infrastructure, pedestrian and bike safety features.
• Workforce development for climate resilience ($3.5M): Fund Bronx-based training programs with Bronx and NYC organizations in green infrastructure maintenance, ecological restoration, and water management, creating stable careers while protecting public investments in forest and river restoration.
• Invest in non-highway modes of transportation ($20M) to benefit local residents, through surface transit, train accessibility, and Blue Highways freight infrastructure.
• Support planning for a street-level protected east-west bike path across the Bronx through collaboration with relevant city agencies and stakeholders.
• Free field trips for Bronx schools ($1.175M): Remove cost barriers by funding buses, equipment, and instruction for the next decade so Bronx students can regularly access unique wetlands, forests, and waterways restored by Bronx community members through programs led by the Bronx River Alliance and others.
• Empower Bronx kids through nature and water access ($1.4M): Launch an initiative to fund free kayaking, river education, and ecological field trips with the Bronx River Alliance for 10,000 Bronx youth over the next decade, prioritizing environmental justice communities.
• Improve health outcomes through preventative care and education ($1.6M): Expand the Bronx Asthma Initiative to support health programming and preventative care for respiratory illness.
• Clean air and water for the South Bronx ($4M): Accelerate state investment in air-quality mitigation, stormwater infrastructure, and river remediation along the lower Bronx River, where children deal with toxic waterways and the highest asthma and pollution burdens in New York State.
• STEM internships for Bronx youth ($1.6M): Support paid high school internships focused on building STEM skills through experiential learning in climate science and environmental education, building future conservation professionals rooted in the Bronx with the Bronx River Alliance and other organizations.
  

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, 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. 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. 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 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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