Bronxites to Gov. Hochul & NYSDOT: Your Cross Bronx 5 Bridges Project IS An Expansion

BRONX, NY (10/07/2025) (readMedia)-- Yesterday, in response to widespread community pushback against the state's multi-million dollar Cross Bronx Bridges Project, a representative from the New York State Department of Transportation insisted that the project "is not an expansion of the Cross Bronx Expressway," as reported in Gothamist. Despite eliminating two original proposals for the project, Governor Hochul and NYSDOT are still considering building a new three-lane wide service road that would threaten public health and sacrifice "mature tree canopy" over the Bronx River and recently-expanded Starlight Park.

Edmundo Martinez, local resident and member of the Stop the Cross Bronx Expansion Coalition, issued the following statement in response:

"Instead of doing a standard bridge repair - a commonplace approach for aging highways - DOT still wants to build a new road and claim it will benefit the community. Make no mistake: a dressed up traffic diversion structure built to truck standards is just more concrete and is an expansion of the highway. Riding or walking 40 feet uphill for almost a mile next to one of the most polluted highways in the nation isn't what the community is asking for. While the pictures are lovely, for those of us actually living and breathing the Cross Bronx each day, current proposals are anything but beneficial," said Edmundo Martinez, co-founder of Friends of Concrete Plant Park.

The Cross Bronx is already one of the most congested, polluted corridors nationwide. With nearly 150,000 vehicles using the Cross Bronx daily, residents suffer from record-levels of asthma and heart disease, due to high carbon emissions, consistently poor air quality, and insufficient cooling infrastructure.

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 for reconnecting communities harmed by highways) that threatens to exacerbate environmental inequities facing the South Bronx. The Stop the Cross Bronx Expansion Coalition is urging DOT and Governor Hochul to reject proposed 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 led by 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 runoff pollution to the Bronx River and Harlem River, and contributing to some of the highest rates of asthma and heart disease in the country. According to a DOT study, idling cars on the Cross Bronx that have polluted the borough for decades drive 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. Research shows that expanding a highway leads to more drivers using it and more congestion, meaning that reductions in traffic are erased within a short period.

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. With thousands of public housing residents living across the street from the proposed highway expansion, State DOT's plans threaten 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

Community members have long advocated, since the 1970s, for investment in safe, dignified, and simple improvements for these 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 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 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 and construct nearly a mile of new elevated highway.

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