NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- There is suddenly new life for an old idea that those living around the Cross Bronx Expressway have hoped to see become a reality for years.
A plan to cap portions of the Cross Bronx Expressway and create new parks and green spaces has been in the works for years. The plan could cost over $700 million, researchers said, but elected officials and residents think the benefits will be worth the price tag.
When asked about it, resident Eric Santeno could only laugh because he’s heard this one before. But this time, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Ritchie Torres hoped to secure federal infrastructure money to make it happen.
Torres refers to the highway as the “Ghost of Robert Moses,” the urban planner who planted a course through mostly low-income neighborhoods, dividing the area and subjecting those still there to poor air quality.
Moses’ decisions have been in the spotlight this week after Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke Monday of racism that has gone into roadway design choices.
Torres saw Buttigieg’s comments and responded, “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. [Pete]: Cap the Cross Bronx!”
In a 2018 study by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, they simulated placing “deck parks” on a near 2.5-mile section of the Cross Bronx, in which over 200,000 people live nearby.
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That study found that by capping the highway, a reduction of noise and air pollution provided a multitude of health and quality-of-life benefits for nearby residents. Groups like Welcome2TheBronx said it would "restitch" communities that were separated by the roadway.
With the $1 trillion infrastructure package, Schumer not only has his eye on the Cross Bronx, but also Penn Station access, East River tunnels and more.
“I’m as confident as I’ve ever been,” Torres told WINS. “For me there would be nothing more critical for improving public health in the Bronx than capping the Cross Bronx."
Torres said the project wouldn’t cause any additional congestion on the highway while capping occurs. When this could actually come to fruition isn’t clear at this point, but Torres called it a ”multiyear process.”
Santeno said he hopes changes are actually coming this time, because the Cross Bronx has filled his lungs with pollution for decades. He even goes as far as to take a bus to Central Park from Parkchester to run in clean air.
“You’ve got the soot, the dirt all coming into your apartment,” said Santeno to 880's Sean Adams. "As far as the Bronx, I think it's got the most asthmatics in the five boroughs. There's a benefit of covering it up.”