Editing Cross Bronx Expressway (section)

=== Planning ===
[[File:CBX Parkchester 6 jeh.JPG|thumb|upright|Eastward from Westchester Avenue]]

The 1929 Report<!-- to the Honorable James J. Walker, Mayor,--> on Highway Traffic Conditions and Proposed Traffic Relief Measures for the City of New York was the first citywide traffic study, classifying a number of projects that had been proposed by local interests. A "Cross-Bronx Route" along 161st and 163rd Streets was one of two proposed facilities, along with the "Nassau Boulevard" (which became the [[Long Island Expressway]]), picked by borough engineers as examples of important projects.<ref>{{cite news |title=Call Traffic Study City Planning Aid |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/10/29/archives/call-traffic-study-city-planning-aid-engineers-see-local-projects.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 29, 1929 |page=32 |access-date=April 14, 2010 |archive-date=July 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722185231/https://www.nytimes.com/1929/10/29/archives/call-traffic-study-city-planning-aid-engineers-see-local-projects.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Although this routing was south of the present Cross Bronx Expressway, the report did suggest a "New Cross-Bronx Artery" near the present expressway that would link the [[Washington Bridge (Harlem River)|Washington Bridge]] with the [[Clason Point]] Ferry to [[Queens]]. Though it would not be built to [[freeway]] standards, it would be 60 feet (18 m) wide with [[grade separation]]s "where considered necessary and desirable." The [[George Washington Bridge]], then under construction, was cited among reasons to build the highway which would help connect [[New Jersey]] to [[Long Island]] via the bridges and ferry.<ref>Harland Bartholomew, Report to the Honorable James J. Walker, Mayor, on Highway Traffic Conditions and Proposed Traffic Relief Measures for the City of New York, [[Day & Zimmermann]], 1929, OCLC 35914068</ref><!--the routing is not described in detail in the text; if anyone can access the book and look at the map please add details-->

In 1936, the [[Regional Plan Association]] (RPA) proposed a highway that would connect the Bronx to [[New England]] and points north.<ref name="nyt-1936-01-15">{{Cite news |date=1936-01-15 |title=Regional Program Proposed for Fair; Plan Association Suggests New Water Supply, Highways and Sewage Treatment Plants. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/01/15/archives/regional-program-proposed-for-fair-plan-association-suggests-new.html |access-date=2022-10-31 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=October 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031155106/https://www.nytimes.com/1936/01/15/archives/regional-program-proposed-for-fair-plan-association-suggests-new.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In late 1940, the [[New York City Planning Commission]] adopted a plan for a network of highways. Except for the [[Pelham Parkway (road)|Bronx and Pelham Parkway]], which lay to the north, no cross-Bronx highway had been built up to this point.<ref>{{cite map |publisher=[[H.M. Gousha Company]] |url=http://www.nycroads.com/history/1941_metro-4/ |title=New York City area |year=1941 |access-date=February 6, 2012 |archive-date=January 16, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120116213258/http://www.nycroads.com/history/1941_metro-4/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The report stated that the "Bronx Crosstown Highway", which would now connect on the east end to the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge (which had replaced the Clason Point Ferry), was "an essential part of a desirable highway pattern", taking traffic from the George Washington Bridge to Long Island and New England. The cost was estimated at $17 million, higher than most improvements because of the "topographical conditions, high land values, and heavily built-up areas".<ref>{{cite news |title=Pattern of Highways for the City as Proposed in Board's Master Plan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1940/11/21/archives/pattern-of-highways-for-the-city-as-proposed-in-boards-master-plan.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 21, 1940 |page=39 |access-date=April 14, 2010 |archive-date=July 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722190623/https://www.nytimes.com/1940/11/21/archives/pattern-of-highways-for-the-city-as-proposed-in-boards-master-plan.html |url-status=live }}</ref>