If they've said it once they've said it a thousand times: No thonx to more Cross-Bronx.
Activists and elected officials rallied on Wednesday to make it clear to Gov. Hochul and the state Department of Transportation that they adamantly oppose the construction of a "diverter road" to carry traffic while repairs are made to the aging Cross-Bronx Expressway.
"You might as well just put a cemetery across the street, because that's what's going to happen if this goes forward," said Bronx River Houses Tenant Association President Norma Saunders.
The state DOT recently announced that it was at least willing to ditch the most-controversial options for the diverter: two options that would have built a four-lane road to carry traffic and then remain in place for general traffic or a bus-only version.
Now, the state is only considering two options: One would still include the four-lane diversion road, which would later be transformed into a bike and pedestrian-only path. The other option would be to do the highway repairs without the diversion structure at all.
Since the start of the planning process, the state has said that the diversion road would keep highway traffic from spilling onto local streets and that the repair job would take two years longer without the highway bypass.
But rally attendees reject the idea that saving two years of work was worth bringing traffic from the Cross-Bronx closer to Starlight Park and the Bronx River Houses than it already is.
Bronx Assembly Member Amanda Septimo said she unequivocally opposes the diverter road.
"Two years is a small price to pay for all of the harm that we will be avoiding [by eliminating that part of the state plan]," she told the crowd. "I want us to work together, and I want us to save time, I want us to be efficient. ... But I could write you a dissertation about all the ways we waste time and money in our budget, and I'm here to say that the Bronx is worth it."
Advocates at the rally also noted that the state was trying to save two years of construction time by building something that would then loom over Starlight Park for decades.
"We're talking about two years of impacts versus 60 or 70 years of impacts from this structure being here and the impacts on the park," said Bronx River Alliance Executive Director Siddhartha Sánchez.
Environmental advocates in the Bronx have consistently opposed even turning a diverter road into a pedestrian and cyclist crossing because they note that the structure would still be a massive, highway-sized piece of concrete looming over the park and the Bronx River itself.
"We like east-west connections that make things safer for people who are walking and biking [but] there are other east-west connections that could be invested in so that you don't have to build an overpass to make that happen," Daniel Ranells, the director of programs and operations of the Bronx River Alliance, told Streetsblog last November. And on Wednesday activists continued to pound the same drum.
"It's greenwashing," said Jaqi Cohen, the director of climate and equity policy at the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. "It was initially presented as a multimodal project, but it was a highway-expansion using our language selling it. Then we found out the details, and learned it was a highway expansion. So the whole entire project has been greenwashed from the very beginning, there's a lot of mistrust for very good reasons."
The state DOT is planning on releasing a draft environmental assessment this fall that lays out the possible impacts of the options on the table and plans to begin construction in 2026. Until then, the agency said it will continue to take feedback on the repair project.
"We will continue to listen to the community and are committed to bringing the best project forward with the greatest benefits to the community," said state DOT spokesman Glenn Blain.
