Community workshop looks to reimagine the Cross Bronx Expressway
A community workshop to develop a vision for the future of the Cross Bronx Expressway will be held this Saturday as the 'Reimagine the Cross Bronx' study enters its next phase.
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The project aims to reconnect neighborhoods that were separated by the expressway while improving the negative impacts the roadway has had on the neighboring communities.
A year's worth of community feedback was released in a report by multiple city and state agencies, including the New York City and New York State transportation departments.
The study found that people who live in the surrounding area have some of the highest rates of environmental health issues, including asthma. It also found that the Cross Bronx is one of the most congested interstates in America with the highest rate of collisions.
"We heard from over 900 individuals, about their experiences living working and traveling along the expressway, some of those things we heard from those people, limited public transit, traffic congestion, noise pollution, and high asthma rates," said Anthony Perez, Bronx Borough Commissioner for the NYC DOT.
The next step in the process is to tackle those issues.
Nilka Martell is the founder of Loving the Bronx, a non-profit that has been advocating since 2016 to improve environmental conditions on the expressway.
"For me, it's something personal. My son suffered from asthma," said Martell, who is a Parkchester resident. "I see so many people who live along this corridor that suffer from respiratory problems, that don't even make the connection of having these respiratory issues and living so close to the [Cross] Bronx."
The community workshop will be held Saturday at P.S. 106 in Parkchester from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. A virtual meeting will be held on Thursday, June 13 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
