Cross Bronx Expressway

The Cross Bronx Expressway is a major freeway in the New York City borough of the Bronx. It is mainly designated as part of Interstate 95 (I-95), but also includes portions of I-295 and U.S. Route 1 (US 1). The Cross Bronx begins at the Alexander Hamilton Bridge over the Harlem River, where the Trans-Manhattan Expressway continues west across Upper Manhattan to the George Washington Bridge. While I-95 leaves at the Bruckner Interchange in Throgs Neck, following the Bruckner Expressway and New England Thruway to Connecticut, the Cross Bronx Expressway Extension continues east, carrying I-295 to the merge with the Throgs Neck Expressway near the Throgs Neck Bridge. Though the road goes primarily northwest-to-southeast, the nominal directions of all route numbers west of the Bruckner Interchange are aligned with the northbound route number going southeast, and the southbound route number going northwest.

The Cross Bronx Expressway was conceived by Robert Moses and built between 1948 and 1972. It was the first highway built through a crowded urban environment in the United States; the most expensive mile of road ever built to that point is part of the Cross Bronx, costing $40 million (). At one point during construction, Moses' crews had to support the Grand Concourse (a major surface thoroughfare), a subway line and several elevated train lines while the expressway was laboriously pushed through. The highway experiences severe traffic problems, and its construction has been blamed for negatively affecting a number of low-income neighborhoods in the South Bronx.

Route description

The Cross Bronx Expressway begins at the eastern end of the Alexander Hamilton Bridge as a continuation of the Trans-Manhattan Expressway and officially designated as both I-95 and US 1. Immediately after coming off the bridge, there is an interchange with the Major Deegan Expressway (I-87) for Yankee Stadium and points upstate. The highway soon intersects with Webster Avenue at a partial interchange allowing eastbound vehicles to exit and westbound ones to enter. Northbound US 1 leaves the Cross Bronx Expressway at this exit. About one and half miles later comes a pair of closely spaced interchanges for the Sheridan Expressway (New York State Route 895 or NY 895) and the Bronx River Parkway. The exit for the Sheridan Expressway is an incomplete interchange and allows access from northbound and to southbound I-95 only.

The Cross Bronx Expressway reaches the Bruckner Interchange two miles (3 km) later. The service road is called East 177th Street between the Bronx River Parkway and the Bruckner Interchange.

Going eastbound (I-95 northbound), the interchange allows access to southbound I-678, northbound I-95 (Bruckner Expressway) and southbound I-295. I-95 leaves the Cross Bronx Expressway here and continues north along the Bruckner Expressway. The Cross Bronx Expressway continues east of the interchange as I-295, which begins here. The Cross Bronx ends  later at the Throgs Neck Expressway, where traffic from I-695 merges on towards the Throgs Neck Bridge.

History

The 1929 Report 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. 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 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 separations "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.

In 1936, the Regional Plan Association (RPA) proposed a cross-Bronx highway which would connect the George Washington, Triborough, and Bronx–Whitestone bridges, as well as access to points north to New England. In late 1940, the New York City Planning Commission adopted a plan for a network of highways. Except for the Bronx and Pelham Parkway, which lay to the north, no cross-Bronx highway had been built up to this point. 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".

Robert Moses proposed a six-lane expressway to run through the middle of the Bronx in 1945. This project proved to be one of the most difficult expressway projects at the time; construction required blasting through ridges, crossing valleys and redirecting small rivers. In doing so, minimal disruption to the apartment buildings that topped the ridges in the area of Grand Concourse was a priority. Moreover, the expressway had to cross 113 streets, seven expressways and parkways (some of which were under construction), one subway line, five elevated lines, three commuter rail lines, and hundreds of utility, water and sewer lines, none of which could be interrupted.

Construction of the expressway began in 1948. A 112-foot open cut was carefully dug to accommodate six  traffic lanes and four  cobblestone shoulders. In 1963, the last of the three sections of roadway between the Alexander Hamilton and Throgs Neck Bridges were finished, completing the Cross Bronx Expressway.

The first portion, from the Bronx River Parkway east to the Bruckner Interchange, opened on November 5, 1955, at the same time as parts of the Queens Midtown and Major Deegan expressways. When the Throgs Neck Bridge opened on January 11, 1961, the Cross Bronx was extended east as one of its two northern approaches. (The extension was part of I-78 until 1970, when it became I-295, its current designation.) A one-mile (1.5 km) western extension to a temporary interchange with Boston Road opened on April 23, 1956, and on April 27, 1960, another 1.2-mile (2 km) piece opened, taking the road west to Webster Avenue. The short 0.6-mile (1 km) piece from Webster Avenue west to Jerome Avenue opened on February 10, 1961. With the opening of the Alexander Hamilton Bridge in April 1963, the $128 million Cross Bronx was completed. This was not the end of construction; the $12.6 million Highbridge Interchange with the Major Deegan Expressway (I-87) opened in November 1964, and a $68 million reconstruction of the Bruckner Interchange, allowing Bruckner Expressway (I-95/I-278) traffic to bypass the old traffic circle, opened on January 2, 1972. (Cross Bronx traffic passing through to the Throgs Neck Bridge had been able to avoid the circle, but drivers taking the Bruckner in either direction, including those bound for New England, had to exit onto the surface.)

Urban decay and congestion

The Cross Bronx Expressway is blamed for worsening the decay of neighborhoods in the South Bronx, such as 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. 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. This is partially responsible for the public opposition to many other planned expressways in New York City that were later cancelled – in particular, the Lower Manhattan Expressway, 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." 

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 and Whitestone Bridges, Upstate New York via 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 (I-95) and the Hutchinson River Parkway. As such, the expressway is also known for its extreme traffic problems; on a typical day 175,000 vehicles travel on the six lanes of highway the road contains, and 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. 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.

Exit list

See also

Notes

References

External links

 

Category:Expressways in New York City
Category:Robert Moses projects
Category:Interstate 95
Category:U.S. Route 1
Category:Urban decay in the United States
Category:Transportation in the Bronx
Category:Articles containing video clips