BY JASON COHEN
With 300 diesel trucks
that travel on the Cross
Bronx Expressway on a daily
basis, the South Bronx is
fi lled with harmful chemicals,
air pollution and the
highest asthma rates in New
York. Recognizing the dangers
of the six-and-a-halfmile
road, lawmakers like
U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres and
state Assemblywoman Karines
Reyes are clamoring for
the highway to be capped off.
But for one lawmaker, the
plan doesn’t go far enough.
State Assemblyman Michael
Benedetto, a Democrat
who represents the 82nd
District in the northeast
Bronx, supports capping the
Cross Bronx Expressway,
but wants it extended to the
Bruckner Expressway portion
of I-95, which travels
through Throggs Neck and
Pelham Bay — communities
within his legislative district.
“The problem with their
request is I think it should
encompass all of Interstate
95 going right into the
Bruckner,” he told the Bronx
Times.
Torres, a Democrat, is
calling for capping the expressway
to be included in
President Biden’s infrastructure
package, known as the
American Jobs Plan, which
will include $20 billion in
investments to reconnect
neighborhoods torn apart by
“urban renewal.” In April,
Reyes, a Democrat, launched
a petition to cap the highway.
Capping the Cross Bronx
would eliminate 2.5 miles of
below street-level portions
of the thoroughfare and construct
green space making
the surrounding communities
healthier places to live.
A 2018 case study of this
proposal, conducted by academics
at Columbia University’s
Mailman School of
Public Health, showed that
the model would improve the
asthma rates, general health
and wellbeing of Bronxites
in the adjacent areas while
reducing Medicaid spending
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,16 AUG. 20-26, 2021 BTR
for disease intervention.
Similar projects have successfully
been adopted in
Boston, Seattle and already
in the Bronx with the pedestrianization
of the Sheridan
Expressway.
In June, the NYC Department
of Transportation denied
Benedetto’s request for
an extension of the capping
plan to I-95.
In July, the House of Representatives
reached a $4.1
trillion infrastructure deal,
called the “Invest Act” with
$109 billion earmarked for
roads, bridges and major
projects. Torres included an
amendment in the plan that
made it clear that funds for
the “Reconnecting Neighborhoods
Program,” — which
transforms roadways that
have separated neighborhoods
— can be used for capping
highways like those
that run through the South
State Assemblyman Michael Benedetto is requesting that any capping
plans for the Cross Bronx Expressway extend to the Bruckner Expressway
portion of I-95. Photo Alex Mitchell
Bronx.
Benedetto then sent a
letter to U.S. Secretary of
Transportation Pete Buttigieg
asking him to consider
his request.
“I do not understand why
these areas were omitted.
The citizens in the Throggs
Neck and Pelham Bay communities
should be entitled
to the same benefi ts as other
communities along the I-95
corridor,” Benedetto said in
the letter. “I therefore implore
you to include all highways
that comprise the I-95
corridor in the name of environmental
justice for all
Bronx residents.”
Benedetto wants Cross
Bronx cap extended