They sent this highway to Hell.
The state Department of Transportation announced on Thursday afternoon that it would not build a "traffic diversion" structure — essentially a highway expansion, according to critics — when it repairs an elevated section of the Cross Bronx Expressway.
The announcement follows extensive coverage in Streetsblog about the secret expansion proposal.
"The Department is no longer considering the use of a traffic diversion structure, or 'community connector,' in the project to replace or rehabilitate five bridges along the Cross Bronx Expressway," the agency announced in a press release. "In response to feedback from the community, ... the last remaining options that included use of a diversion structure to handle expressway traffic during construction are being withdrawn from consideration."
Scrapping the diversion road is a final victory for neighborhood advocates who have spent the last two years sounding the alarm that bridge repairs were just a way for the state to quietly expand the Cross Bronx Expressway. The state DOT first suggested that it would build a four-lane road to carry traffic while the elevated pieces of the highway were knocked down and repaired, and then keep the road as a "community connector" with one lane of auto traffic, a bus lane and, possibly, infrastructure for bikes and pedestrians. Those advocates celebrated the win as defeating "noxious" proposals in the south Bronx.
"After tireless advocacy from our community, and especially Assemblymember Emérita Torres, the state Department of Transportation listened and scrapped its most noxious proposals for the Cross Bronx Expressway — plans that would have threatened the environment and health of thousands of residents across our borough," said Siddhartha Sanchez, executive director of the Bronx River Alliance.
"It's a massive win and a huge relief for the South Bronx. Now that we are full partners at the table, we look forward to working with Governor Hochul and NYSDOT toward a more just, sustainable vision of the corridor. There's more work to do together, and we won't settle for any plan that further burdens our community."
New York State had planned for years to repair the decades-old elevated sections of the Cross Bronx, but early last year Gov. Hochul, Bronx elected officials and the state DOT trumpeted a $150 million federal grant for the project to build the diverter roadway. A press release at the time bragged about "unprecedented investment to revitalize infrastructure in the Bronx" and said the highway diversion road would become a "community connector" creating a new east-west route in the Bronx once the repairs were finished.
But environmental advocates called foul at the prospect of building the highway-sized road over Starlight Park and the Bronx River, especially as it would add another two lanes of elevated highway-style traffic directly next to the Cross Bronx.
Reporting by Streetsblog also revealed that the "community connector" idea was developed by the state twenty years ago and involved building a four-mile long four lane road with a 45 mile per hour speed limit. The state was also planning a second piece of the connector road slightly to the west of Starlight Park, which could have locked the project in and ensured the Bronx would be stuck with a highway expansion running across the entire borough.
In response to those concerns, the state first suggested it could turn the connector road into a bus-only or bike/pedestrian-only road, but activists still objected to putting what they considered an overbuilt piece of concrete directly over the park.
In addition to the fact that the initial tweaks to the plan for the connector road still involved building the highway diversion, advocates for Starlight Park and the Bronx River said it was absurd to build what was essentially a highway overpass and think people would be eager to walk or bike up a huge incline simply to travel in a straight line.
"[W]e like east-west connections that make things safer for people who are walking and biking...there are other east-west connections that could be invested in so that you don't have to build an overpass to make that happen," Daniel Ranells, the director of programs and operations at the Bronx River Alliance, said last November.
Earlier this summer, the state said it was down to two possible options involving the diversion structure: building it and converting it to a bike/pedestrian path when it was completed, or building it and then putting a bike and pedestrian path on the side of the Cross Bronx Expressway itself.
Even as the state eliminated more options to restrict how the the roadway was used after the highway repairs, advocates suspected that once the diversion structure was actually built, the state DOT would never actually follow through on the promise to turn the road into a bike/pedestrian-only path.
The other option on the table, which will now be considered in an upcoming environmental assessment, is not building the diversion structure at all and a staged repair process for the bridges. That option also includes the possibility for a shared use path on the side of the expressway.
New York officials argued that doing the diversion structure would save two years of construction during the bridge repairs. But at a recent rally to oppose the continuing possibility of the diverter structure, Assembly Member Amanda Septimo of the Bronx clearly stated that the extra two years were worth it compared to the possibility of another highway-sized structure getting built in the middle of the Boogie Down.
"Two years is a small price to pay for all of the harm that we will be avoiding [by eliminating that part of the state plan]," she said in September. "I want us to work together, and I want us to save time, I want us to be efficient. … But I could write you a dissertation about all the ways we waste time and money in our budget, and I'm here to say that the Bronx is worth it."
With only Option Two on the table, elected officials in the area praised Governor Hochul for listening to Bronxites on the ground.
"With only Option Two remaining — a standard bridge repair with a shared-use path along the Cross Bronx — we are one step closer to a project that prioritizes public health and environmental justice," said City Council Majority Leader Amanda Farías. "I commend Governor Hochul and NYSDOT for listening to Bronx residents and affirming what we have emphasized all along: meaningful infrastructure planning must begin with the people who live here in mind."
This is a developing win. Check back later for updates.
