State DOT Partially Backs Off Cross Bronx Expwy. Expansion - Streetsblog New York City

New York State DOT will not keep a temporary bypass beside the Cross Bronx Expressway as a permanent highway and may convert the overpass to a bike and pedestrian path or remove it after reconstruction. The agency plans to rebuild five bridges between Boston Road and Rosedale Avenue and had proposed a temporary "traffic diversion structure" to carry tens of thousands of cars and trucks during the $890-million project. Strong pushback from lawmakers, residents, and advocates expressed opposition to adding more highway capacity in the Bronx and prompted DOT to drop options that would preserve motor vehicle use of the bypass.

New York won't turn a temporary bypass next to the Cross Bronx Expressway into a permanent highway, and might instead convert the overpass into a bike and pedestrian path after a reconstruction project wraps, or ditch the extra roadway altogether, the state Department of Transportation said last week. New York State DOT's reversal came after heavy pushback from lawmakers and locals, who slammed Gov. Hochul for planning to add even more highway to the traffic-plagued Bronx.

State DOT is gearing up to rebuild five bridges along the Cross Bronx between Boston Road and Rosedale Avenue. Officials want to build the variously labeled "traffic diversion structure" or "community connector" to carry tens of thousands of cars and trucks during the $890-million reconstruction. Opposition to the project earned a boost as the subject of the New York Times' penultimate "Big City" column by Ginia Bellafante last week.

Days later, state DOT Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez said the agency would ditch two options, dubbed 1A and 1B, that would have kept the temporary overpass open to motor vehicle traffic even after the project is completed in around four years. Dominguez pledged to either limit the overpass to people on foot or bike, or advance the rehab without the structure altogether.

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