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Why Local Leaders Want Funds From Infrastructure Bill to Fix Cross Bronx Expressway
Published November 9, 2021 • Updated 6 hours ago
As President Joe Biden is poised to sign the $1 trillion package of road and other infrastructure projects, New York City leaders are calling for some of the funding to be used to cap one of its busiest highways.
Activists have long called for capping portions of the Cross Bronx Expressway because the highly-congested 6.5-mile freeway constructed in 1955 has displaced Black and Latino residents and destroyed developing businesses since its conception, as well as left communities with serious health impacts from toxic fumes. Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres is among those who want to transform the sunken portion of the highway into parks and green space.
"The Cross Bronx Expressway, built by Robert Moses, is both literally and metaphorically a structure of racism, with diesel truck traffic polluting the air black and brown kids breathe everyday," Torres said.
Moses designed the highway in the 20s and bulldozed Black, Jewish and Puerto Rico homes, building the highway right in the middle and creating the South Bronx -- which has the highest asthma rate anywhere in the country.
Activists have long called for capping portions of the Cross Bronx Expressway because the highly-congested 6.5-mile freeway constructed in 1955 has displaced Black and Latino residents and destroyed developing businesses since its conception, as well as left communities with serious health impacts from toxic fumes. Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres is among those who want to transform the sunken portion of the highway into parks and green space.
"The Cross Bronx Expressway, built by Robert Moses, is both literally and metaphorically a structure of racism, with diesel truck traffic polluting the air black and brown kids breathe everyday," Torres said.
Moses designed the highway in the 20s and bulldozed Black, Jewish and Puerto Rico homes, building the highway right in the middle and creating the South Bronx -- which has the highest asthma rate anywhere in the country.
The Cross Bronx Expressway is one of the major arteries in the Borough of the Bronx. It runs east/west through the entire borough from the Throggs Neck Bridge to the George Washington Bridge and connects with I-95 and I-87 as well as two major parkways, affecting the entire borough and all of it's residents.
Thankfully Representative Ritchie Torres voted to get these funds for the Bronx.