State DOT Scraps Cross Bronx Expansion Road On Highway Repair Plan - Streetsblog New York City

"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remaining options that included use of a diversion structure to handle expressway traffic during construction are being withdrawn from consideration.""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."

"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. 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."

State Department of Transportation will not build a traffic diversion 'community connector' during repairs to an elevated section of the Cross Bronx Expressway. The proposed diversion would have been a four-lane road to carry traffic during demolition and repair and later remain with one auto lane, a bus lane, and possible bike and pedestrian infrastructure. Neighborhood and environmental advocates opposed the plan, arguing it constituted a quiet highway expansion and would place an overbuilt elevated roadway over Starlight Park and the Bronx River. The state offered bus-only or bike/pedestrian-only options but ultimately withdrew all options involving the diversion structure.

Read at Streetsblog