Gov. Hochul wants to use federal money to build a four-lane, mile-long highway next to the Cross Bronx Expressway. He is marketing it as a "community connector," even though it will hurt the environment in areas that have already been hurt by cars driving over people for a long time.

Proposed Mega Project.Photo byDOT NY

A $150-million U.S. Department of Transportation Mega grant from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is helping to pay for a billion-dollar highway reconstruction project in the South Bronx. This project will add a proposed bypass between Boston Road and Rosedale Avenue to the notorious Cross Bronx Expressway, making it longer.

The proposed bypass is as big as a highway and will carry highway traffic for four years while the state fixes the expressway. It is being sold as a "multimodal community connector" because diagrams show it with a bus and bike lane, even though the MTA doesn't run any buses on that route right now.

Drawings and the government grant text also try to take attention away from the second highway by saying that the vast new viaduct will have bus lanes that will move people quickly along an east-west path. Just two little issues: 1) It's only 0.8 miles long, so it won't help anyone take public transportation to work, and 2) there isn't a bus route that could use the new lane right now.

Why Is There Any Need For This Mega Project

There aren't many crosstown links in the Bronx because of the Bronx River, parks that split roads, and highways that run north to south. There aren't any east-west links in the borough, making going across town hard and winding whether in a car, on a bike, the bus, or on foot.

The state DOT has been trying to solve this problem for a long time. In 2004, they suggested building a road system that would run next to the Cross Bronx and connect University Avenue to the Bruckner Expressway. This system would be called the Cross Bronx Connector Road System and would be about four miles long. A part of that plan would be used for the "multimodal connector road."

For years, that plan was put away in a drawer. However, the Cross Bronx Expressway, which is 70 years old, is nearing the end of its useful life. As a result, the state wants to add even more highways to the neighborhood.