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Cross Bronx Expressway
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==Effects== === Urban decay === The Cross Bronx Expressway is blamed for worsening the decay of neighborhoods in the [[South Bronx]], such as [[Tremont, Bronx|Tremont]]. In [[Robert Caro]]'s ''[[The Power Broker]]'', the author argues that Moses intentionally directed the expressway through this neighborhood, even though there was a more viable option only one block south.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Robert Caro|last=Caro|first=Robert A.|title=[[The Power Broker|The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the fall of New York]]|location=New York|publisher=Knopf|year=1974|isbn=0-394-48076-7}}</ref> The expressway's construction displaced many residents, who generally were not relocated to adequate housing.<ref>The Cross-Bronx Double Cross: How the cross-Bronx ... - Fordham University. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://research.library.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1019&context=amer_stud_theses {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112005626/https://research.library.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1019&context=amer_stud_theses |date=January 12, 2023 }}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported in 2022 that the areas near the Cross Bronx Expressway were among New York City's poorest neighborhoods; these areas contained 220,000 residents, most of which were ethnic minorities.<ref name="nyt-2022-09-12">{{Cite news |last=Ley |first=Ana |date=2022-09-12 |title=A Plan to Push Cars Out of Manhattan Could Make the Bronx's Air Dirtier |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/12/nyregion/nyc-congestion-pricing-manhattan-bronx.html |access-date=2022-10-31 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=October 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031134917/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/12/nyregion/nyc-congestion-pricing-manhattan-bronx.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[File:2024-05-21 12 50 39 View north along Interstate 95 and east along the Cross Bronx Expressway from the overpass for Crotona Avenue in the Bronx, New York City, New York.jpg|thumb|left|The eastbound Cross Bronx entering the tunnel in East Tremont, one of the most impoverished parts of New York City]] Many of the neighborhoods it runs through have been continually poor since its construction, partly due to the lowered property value caused by the expressway.<ref name="nyt-2022-09-12" /> This is partially responsible for the public opposition to many other planned expressways in [[New York City]] that were later cancelled β in particular, the [[Lower Manhattan Expressway]],<ref>[[Ric Burns]], [[New York: A Documentary Film]], episode 7, The American Experience, PBS Television, WNET New York and WGBH Boston, 1999.</ref> and may have provided impetus to [[Jane Jacobs]], an American expatriate, in her opposition to the [[Scarborough Expressway]] in [[Toronto]]. Architect Ronald Shiffman argues that the Cross Bronx Expressway "ripped through the heart of the Bronx, creating what was a wall between what eventually was known as the Northern and Southern part of the Bronx."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b090c4f8|title=Citizen Jane: Battle for the City - BBC Four|website=BBC|access-date=2017-10-15|archive-date=November 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171105013956/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b090c4f8|url-status=live}}</ref> === Health issues === The Cross Bronx Expressway accounts for a large proportion of the Bronx's roadway pollution.<ref name=":0">The Cross-Bronx Double Cross: How the cross-Bronx ... - Fordham University. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://research.library.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1019&context=amer_stud_theses {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112005626/https://research.library.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1019&context=amer_stud_theses |date=January 12, 2023 }}</ref><ref name="The City 2020">{{cite web |date=September 29, 2020 |title=For Some Near the Cross Bronx Expressway, COVID-19 is an Environmental Justice Issue, Too |url=https://www.thecity.nyc/2020/9/28/21492252/cross-bronx-expressway-covid-19-environmental-justice-nyc |access-date=October 31, 2022 |website=The City |archive-date=October 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031134928/https://www.thecity.nyc/2020/9/28/21492252/cross-bronx-expressway-covid-19-environmental-justice-nyc |url-status=live }}</ref> Bronx residents are more likely to have asthma than residents of other boroughs, and a large portion of those are children. Because things like dust, pollution, and other allergens serve as factors for developing asthma, children of color living in low-income areas in the Bronx are at risk of suffering from asthma exacerbation. Asthma rates in the Bronx are three times higher than the national average.<ref name=":0" /> In the [[Morris Heights, Bronx|Morris Heights]] neighborhood of the [[West Bronx]], where the Cross Bronx and Major Deegan Expressways intersect, air-pollution rates are also generally higher than in the rest of the borough.<ref name="The City 2020" /> To decrease emissions from the Cross Bronx Expressway, community activists proposed constructing a [[freeway lid]] in the early 2020s.<ref name="News 12 - The Bronx 2022">{{cite web |date=May 1, 2022 |title=Study: Rise in South Bronx traffic congestion contributing to further health problems |url=https://bronx.news12.com/study-rise-in-south-bronx-traffic-congestion-contributing-to-further-health-problems |access-date=October 31, 2022 |website=News 12 - The Bronx |archive-date=October 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031134919/https://bronx.news12.com/study-rise-in-south-bronx-traffic-congestion-contributing-to-further-health-problems |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="tg-2022-09-07">{{Cite web |date=2022-09-07 |title=The wealth divide linked to 370 heat deaths in New York each year |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/07/new-york-heat-deaths-map-inequality |access-date=2022-10-31 |website=the Guardian |language=en |archive-date=October 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031134917/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/07/new-york-heat-deaths-map-inequality |url-status=live }}</ref> === Congestion === [[File:2024-05-21 14 29 44 View north along Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1 and east along the Cross Bronx Expressway from the overpass for Macombs Road in the Bronx, New York City, New York.jpg|thumb|Congestion near the west end of the expressway]] The expressway is one of the main routes for shipping and transportation through New York City due to its connections with [[New Jersey]] via the [[George Washington Bridge]], [[Long Island]] via the [[Throgs Neck Bridge|Throgs Neck]] and [[Bronx Whitestone Bridge|Whitestone Bridges]], Upstate [[New York State|New York]] via [[Interstate 87 (New York)|I-87]] northbound and the [[Bronx River Parkway]], Manhattan via I-87 southbound to the [[Robert F. Kennedy Bridge]] or the [[Trans-Manhattan Expressway]] (extension of the Cross Bronx Expressway westward) and the [[Henry Hudson Parkway]], and [[New England]] via the [[New England Thruway]] ([[Interstate 95 in New York|I-95]]) and the [[Hutchinson River Parkway]]. As such, the expressway is also known for its extreme traffic problems; in 2000, nearly 180,000 vehicles used the Cross Bronx's six lanes every day.<ref name=nyt-2002-09-20>{{Cite news|last=Feuer|first=Alan|date=2002-09-20|title=Hell on Wheels, and Nerves; If Ever There Was a Mean Street, It's the Cross Bronx|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/20/nyregion/hell-on-wheels-and-nerves-if-ever-there-was-a-mean-street-it-s-the-cross-bronx.html|access-date=2022-10-31|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=July 17, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160717234501/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/20/nyregion/hell-on-wheels-and-nerves-if-ever-there-was-a-mean-street-it-s-the-cross-bronx.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It is not uncommon for truckers to use the [[Cross-Westchester Expressway]] to the [[New York State Thruway]] and the [[Major Deegan Expressway]] to get around this stretch of I-95. Proposals have been made to make dedicated truck lanes, add express bus service, and build decking on the open trenches to allow for parks, although to no avail.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nycroads.com/roads/cross-bronx |title=Cross Bronx Expressway (I-95, I-295 and US 1) |work=NYCRoads |last=Anderson |first=Steve |access-date=February 6, 2012 |archive-date=January 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119173547/http://www.nycroads.com/roads/cross-bronx/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In both 2008 and 2007, [[Inrix]] cited the Cross Bronx Expressway's westbound exit 4B ([[Bronx River Parkway]]) as being the worst intersection in the United States. In 2008, the expressway's exits included three out of the top four on the list, and four of the top five in 2007.<ref name="Deutsch 2009" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bruner |first=Jon |date=February 25, 2009 |title=America's Worst Intersections |periodical=[[Forbes]] |url=https://www.forbes.com/2009/02/24/traffic-intersections-worst-lifestyle-autos_intersections_full-list.html |access-date=March 1, 2009 |archive-date=March 1, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301151733/http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/24/traffic-intersections-worst-lifestyle-autos_intersections_full-list.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Congestion is often exacerbated by the fact that large portions of the Cross Bronx Expressway does not meet modern Interstate standards,<ref name="nyt-2010-04-02" /> as well as the relative lack of arterial roads between the West Bronx and East Bronx.<ref name="New York State Department of Transportation 1992">{{cite web |date=October 2, 1992 |title=Bronx Arterial Needs Major Investment Study: NYSDOT |url=https://www.dot.ny.gov/regional-offices/region11/projects/project-repository/bxmis/techmemo2-execsum.html |access-date=October 31, 2022 |website=New York State Department of Transportation |archive-date=October 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031180243/https://www.dot.ny.gov/regional-offices/region11/projects/project-repository/bxmis/techmemo2-execsum.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Large portions of the expressway do not have shoulders, so even minor breakdowns could cause congestion.<ref name=nyt-2010-04-02>{{Cite news|last=Dolnick|first=Sam|date=2010-04-02|title=On Bronx Stoops, a Highway's Traffic Entertains|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/nyregion/02bottleneck.html|access-date=2022-10-31|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=October 31, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031180243/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/nyregion/02bottleneck.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="New York State Department of Transportation 1992" /> A 2002 study by the [[New York State Department of Transportation]] found that the expressway also had short entrance and exit ramps, poor sightlines, and dim lighting.<ref name=nyt-2002-09-20/><ref name="New York State Department of Transportation 1992" /> Other issues were caused by the fact that the expressway's service roads were discontinuous, forcing traffic onto the expressway or local streets.<ref name="New York State Department of Transportation 1992" /> In 2022, the [[Metropolitan Transportation Authority]] released an [[environmental impact statement]], which detailed the possible impacts of a planned [[Congestion pricing in New York City|congestion pricing zone in New York City]]. The study found that, if the zone were implemented, up to 700 additional trucks per day would use the Cross Bronx Expressway to avoid the congestion pricing zone.<ref name="nyt-2022-09-12" /><ref name="Sundaram 2022">{{cite web |last=Sundaram |first=Arya |date=September 18, 2022 |title=Environmental study of congestion-pricing plans has Bronx residents asking: What's in it for us? |url=https://gothamist.com/news/environmental-study-of-congestion-pricing-plans-has-bronx-residents-asking-whats-in-it-for-us |access-date=October 31, 2022 |website=Gothamist |archive-date=October 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031110449/https://gothamist.com/news/environmental-study-of-congestion-pricing-plans-has-bronx-residents-asking-whats-in-it-for-us |url-status=live }}</ref> After congestion pricing was enacted in 2025, traffic on the Cross Bronx Expressway increased as well, leading to concerns that the toll would worsen already-high levels of air pollution.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Howard |first=Hilary |date=February 2, 2025 |title=The South Bronx Has a Pollution Issue. Congestion Pricing May Worsen It. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/nyregion/congestion-pricing-air.html |access-date=February 2, 2025 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
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