Reimagining Cross Bronx effort to host ‘walkshops’ in September, October

On Sept. 9, 2023 the city will begin the first of several walking tours as part of a study to reimagine the Cross Bronx Expressway.

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The city will host walking tours in September and October as part of a study of the Cross Bronx Expressway that is meant to find ways to lessen the highway’s negative impacts on surrounding communities while keeping the artery intact.

As officials assess how sections of the borough broken up by the monstrosity can be reconnected and the detrimental health impacts of the roadway can be mitigated, these tours will allow members of the public to see existing conditions around and underneath the highway. The “walkshops,” which kickoff on Sept. 9, will all take place on Saturdays at 10 a.m. in September and October, each lasting about 1.5 hours. They will be led by city agencies, community organizations and elected officials.

The study is supported by a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, which was announced in December. The initiative, which is a combined effort of the New York City health, planning and transportation departments and the New York State Department of Transportation, seeks to identify ways the expressway can be improved to lessen its burden on surrounding communities, such as through capping, which could involve building open space above the roadway.

Built in the 1950s and 1960s, the notorious Robert Moses project displaced tens of thousands of Bronxites. Now with an average of 300 diesel trucks on the roadway each hour and tens of thousands of cars traveling the expressway in each direction every day, the borough’s residents face high rates of respiratory disease, including asthma and other chronic diseases. The expressway also has some of the highest crash and fatality rates, with an average of 159 injuries each year on streets adjacent to it between 2014 and 2018, according to the city.

“For decades, people in the Bronx have been…