"Edmundo Martinez is used to traffic - the near-constant hum of pistons pumping and tires on pavement, the screeching acceleration of late-night street races, angry horns, and frantic sirens."
""The highways literally disconnected us from green space, from other communities and neighborhoods," Martinez said. "I didn't go to Tremont a lot as a kid because that meant crossing the Cross Bronx and through the underpasses, which are not clean or maintained well.""
"Now, the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) is proposing a $900 million infrastructure project that Bronx residents and environmental advocates like Martinez worry will again exacerbate poor public health and environmental degradation already burdening the neighborhood."
Edmundo Martinez and South Bronx neighbors have endured constant traffic noise, air pollution, and isolation from highways such as the Cross Bronx and Bruckner Expressways. Highways severed access to green space and made crossing into nearby neighborhoods difficult because underpasses are poorly maintained. Community groups like the Bronx River Alliance mobilized roughly 64,000 residents to restore long-polluted green spaces, including Starlight Park and the Bronx River. A new $900 million NYSDOT infrastructure proposal has raised fears that poor public health and environmental degradation will worsen. Deep mistrust of state officials and a history of environmental racism underpin community opposition.
Read at Bronx Times
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