![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-1167824966-2-scaled.jpg\")
\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The state will hold the first of three public hearings Wednesday to discuss its plan to rehab five bridges along the Cross Bronx Expressway. But Bronx leaders and transit advocates are pressing Albany for more time to review the plan, citing a lengthy and dense environmental assessment and busy holiday season. <\/p>\n
Photo: Getty Images<\/p>\n
The New York State Department of Transportation is set to hold the first of three public hearings<\/a> on Wednesday Dec. 3 to discuss a controversial proposal to repair five bridges<\/a> along a one mile corridor of the Cross Bronx Expressway.<\/p>\n But opponents of the plan say the state hasn\u2019t allowed enough time to properly review the plan and its potential impacts, which NYSDOT released on Nov. 18 in a close to 6,000 page environmental assessment report they argue was ill-timed given the busy holiday season.<\/p>\n Environmental advocates say many Bronxites are preoccupied with holiday plans and caring for young people who are on winter break from school. They\u2019ve called on the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) to extend the public comment period for the nearly $1 billion infrastructure plan to 90 days to allow for more comprehensive and informed public feedback.<\/p>\n Siddartha S\u00e1nchez, executive director of the Bronx River Alliance, the leading organization in a coalition called \u201cStop the Cross Bronx Expansion Coalition,\u201d sat in front of the printed report at a press conference just ahead of Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n Stacks of paper covered an entire table as S\u00e1nchez and other members of the coalition strongly urged the state to account for the length and technical density of the of the document, as well as Bronx resident\u2019s limited availability during the Holiday months.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aThis review timeline simply doesn\u2019t allow enough time for residents to help shape this once in a generation project,\u201d S\u00e1nchez said. \u201cIn particular working families, the backbone of our South Bronx communities, deserve a real opportunity to weigh in on the future of the Cross Bronx after enduring nearly 70 years of sickness and toxic emissions because of the expressway.\u201d<\/p>\n The group, a collection of environmental and transit advocates, see the project as an expansion of the long despised, notoriously polluted highway, which tore apart communities and wreaked havoc on public health when urban planner, Robert Moses built the expressway decades ago.<\/p>\n Without intervention, the public comment period for the Cross Bronx \u201cFive Bridges Project\u201d will end on January 9. The public hearings are scheduled for Dec. 3, 6 and 10, in the midst of the holiday season, when community organizers say Bronx residents are short on free time, attention and resources.<\/p>\n Karen Argenti, who represents the Bronx Council for Environmental Quality, shamed NYSDOT for the timing of the release, saying that the report and the public comment period were more likely to go unnoticed and unscrutinized.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aIt\u2019s really unfortunate that you [NYSDOT] decided to publish this document during the largest holiday season of the year,\u201d Argenti said. \u201cWe don\u2019t think people are really gonna pay much attention to this project during this important family time.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just the review period that\u2019s been under debate; the coalition has opposed for years<\/a> the state\u2019s plans to rehab the five bridges along the Cross Bronx Expressway. Following a prolonged pressure campaign, NYSDOT nixed plans<\/a> to repair the bridges that would have built an additional \u2018traffic diversion structure\u2019 along the expressway, adding more concrete and cars \u2014at least temporarily\u2014 to an area with historically poor air quality and the highest rates of asthma in the state, according to the NY Department of Health.<\/p>\n Now, advocates say that they feel the state is finally listening, but they want more thoughtfulness and collaboration on the project, including expanding the public comment period to 90 days. State Senator Gustavo Rivera pointed out that 90 days is a small number in comparison to the decades of disconnection and pollution attributed to the infamous highway.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aLet\u2019s make sure we get it right,\u201d Rivera said. \u201cWe\u2019re just asking for more time; we\u2019re asking for 90 days to make sure that all the input that\u2019s necessary can go into the process so we can make sure that we get it right. If we\u2019ve had seven decades of harm done to these communities, we can wait for a few months to start the process so then we can get all the input necessary to get the best output necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n Dariella Rodriguez from The Point CDC in Hunts Point said that she hoped extra time will give the coalition an opportunity to decode the lengthy, technical document for stakeholders in hopes of engaging effective and informed public comments<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aWe have this incredibly long document that we must, as a team be able to digest, share with community, be able to almost translate into language that our community can actually understand and respond to,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cWe are in a moment of wanting to assume the best intentions, we are celebrating being able to move forward in a good direction.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahead of the first hearing, NYSDOT has not yet said if it will consider extending the public comment period.\n<\/p>\n Speakers praised Governor Hochul and NYSDOT for pivoting away from other plans that would have built an additional \u201ctraffic diversion structure\u201d along the highway, but stressed that they opposed any widening of the Cross Bronx Expressway\u2019s footprint at all.<\/p>\n While the state\u2019s version of the \u201cfive bridges project\u201d would technically require a widening of the roadway to include a larger shoulder to bring the highway up to code with the Federal Highway Administration\u2019s (FHWA) standards, Bronx environmental advocates urged state officials to seek an exemption, citing concerns that a widened expressway, even without the addition of new traffic lanes could potentially pave the way for adding more lanes in the future.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aWe have a genuine concern with anything that expands the footprint of the Cross Bronx,\u201d S\u00e1nchez said. \u201cThat includes expansion for shoulders, expansion for a shared use path, particularly because they have an impact underneath the expressway. But also because we understand that it\u2019s future capacity that could be permitted down the road to increase the volume of vehicles on the expressways, and by extension, the volume of air pollution in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director for the transit advocacy organization, Riders Alliance, said that the state should be analyzing all possible alternatives like appealing for a waiver to FHWA shoulder standards and looking at ways to reduce traffic congestion along the corridor.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are always ways around making a problem worse, which is what widening the Cross Bronx so clearly represents,\u201d Pearlstein said.\n<\/p>\n The first hearing is Wednesday, Dec. 3 at the Mott Hall V. school at 1551 East 172nd St. from 5 to 8 p.m.\n<\/p>\n Reach Sadie Brown at\u00a0sbrown@schnepsmedia.com<\/a>. For more coverage, subscribe to our\u00a0newsletter<\/a>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>!\u00a0<\/p>\n \t![\"Executive](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-02-at-3.48.37-PM.jpg\")
Executive Director of the Bronx River Alliance, Siddartha S\u00e1nchez, displayed a printed version of the Cross Bronx Expressway bridge project\u2019s environmental assessment report, which is thousands thousands of pages long, during a virtual press conference the day before Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n![\"NYSDOT](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-02-at-4.06.13-PM.jpg\")
NYSDOT published renderings of the project proposal and alternatives. One option (above) will widen the highway to construct a shared use path, shown in orange. Photo: NYSDOT<\/p>\n