A plan to redesign a mile of bridges along the Cross Bronx Expressway is causing division in nearby communities. Advocates argue the state Department of Transportation is pushing a complex plan through a busy holiday season, leaving minimal time for public review.

The state DOT's first public hearing on the Cross Bronx Bridges project was held Wednesday night in Soundview. The $900 million project will replace five deteriorating bridges along a 1-mile section between Boston Road and Rosedale Avenue. The DOT says the bridges are nearly 70 years old and reaching the end of their life spans.

"What we are trying to do is adhere to modern federal standards, when these roads were built in the 40/50s clearly the federal standards have adapted and modernized now we have shoulders now, break down lanes," said Rolando Infante, with the New York State Department of Transportation.

Poster boards spread through the halls of Mott Hall V school in Soundview where the meeting was held. The posters summarized the close to 6,000-page draft design and environmental assessment that was released on Nov. 18. With public comment scheduled to close on Jan. 9, environmental advocates are asking for a 90-day extension to review the lengthy document.

"I've only been able to read one page of the 5,667 other pages that are there for us to read understand digest and comment on, we are just asking for a little more time a 90-day comment period, the ability to read and digest these documents," said Anna Berlanga, the Uptown and Bronx Organizer for Transportation Alternatives.

The state pushed back, saying they considered the communities' request to delay the original public comment period in the fall instead of the summer, and extended it past the federal standard of 30 days.

"The standard is 30 days; we've expanded it to 40 then to 52 days to January 9th. During the summer, we were actually very much in consideration when we had our first public meetings, that they didn't want anything in the summer, because the community boards are going to be out and there was not going to be a time for folks to synthesize this information. We said that this process was going to happen in the fall. We stuck to our word, we provided it in the fall, and we extended it into well past the new year," said Infante.

Ahead of the hearing, neighbors to the expressway, community leaders and environmental organizers gathered to rally pointing to concerns in the design plans.

"At stake is how the reconstruction of the existing cross Bronx happens, does it get rebuilt with shoulders that widen and impact the park and the river, does it get rebuilt with more infrastructure that the community doesn't want and that's what's in the environmental assessment," said Siddhartha Sánchez, executive director of the Bronx River Alliance.

The state presented three different alternative plans it is considering for review.

"In reimagining what the Cross Bronx will be is also reconnecting these communities and to address, you know, past wrongs. Therefore, the shared use path is, something that we're also bringing into consideration where we were actually connecting, not only pedestrians, cyclists, runners, we're reconnect these communities and they got the full engagement process, especially with the greenway, since we're also doing it also for the Bronx River Parkway northbound connecting a shared use path...it creates the mobility for folks to get around reconnecting communities," said Infante.

Two public hearings are being held:

Hearing 2 Date: Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025 Time: 2 - 5 p.m. Location: PS 214 1970 West Farms Road Bronx, New York 10460 Presentation at 3:30 p.m. Hearing 3 (Virtual on Zoom) Date: Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025 Time 5 - 8 p.m. Zoom ID: 834 3999 6917 Invite Link Presentations at 5 and 6:30 p.m.