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 eastern approach to the Alexander Hamilton Bridge over the Harlem River. 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 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 (equivalent to $ in ). 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. Most Bronxites consider the Cross Bronx Expressway the defining border between the North and the South Bronx.Berman, Marshall. "All That is Solid Melts Into Air." New York: Penguin: 1988
Route description
The Cross Bronx Expressway begins at the eastern end of the Alexander Hamilton Bridge, 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 later, the expressway has a pair of closely spaced interchanges for NY 895 (Sheridan Boulevard) and the Bronx River Parkway. The exit for Sheridan Boulevard is an incomplete interchange and allows access from northbound and to southbound I-95 only.
The Cross Bronx Expressway reaches the Bruckner Interchange 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 connects with the Throgs Neck Expressway, where traffic from I-695 merges on before the expressway ends at the northern approach to the Throgs Neck Bridge.
History
Planning
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.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
In 1936, the Regional Plan Association (RPA) proposed a highway that would connect the Bronx to New England and points north. 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".
Construction
In the 1940s, city planner Robert Moses proposed the construction of a system of highways that would traverse the New York City area. The plan was to cost $800 million (equivalent to $ in ), and, in February 1945, the city agreed to pay $60 million (equivalent to $ in ) of that cost. That November, the city, state, and federal governments agreed to fund several new highways in New York City. Among these was the Cross Bronx Expressway, which was to cost $38.67 million. The expressway was to continue onto the 181st Street Bridge at its western end, connecting with the 178th–179th Street Tunnels and the George Washington Bridge via a set of ramps. At its eastern end, the expressway would connect with the Hutchinson River Parkway and New England Thruway at the Bruckner Interchange.
The New York City Board of Estimate approved a contract in February 1946, allowing the Tenant Relocation Bureau to relocate 540 families who lived on the expressway's right-of-way. The New York City Council adopted a resolution the next month, asking the Board of Estimate to delay the relocations, which were scheduled to start that June. City officials said that only 55 families would be relocated in 1946 and that all existing residents would be relocated before construction started. By late 1947, the city and state governments were relocating residents in the expressway's path. The city and state started soliciting bids for construction contracts that December. Although the city and state planned to demolish 164 structures on the expressway's right-of-way, they were reluctant to raze all of the structures immediately because of a housing shortage in New York City. The city government was able to obtain this land through the eminent domain process.
Construction of the expressway began in 1948. A 112-foot open cut was excavated, accommodating six traffic lanes and four cobblestone shoulders. 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), as well as numerous subway and train lines. The highway also passed by hundreds of utility, water and sewer lines, none of which could be interrupted. The highway was to contain 54 bridges and three tunnels when it was completed. By early 1949, the project's budget had increased to $53 million, in part because of material shortages.
Eastern section
By early 1949, the first section of the expressway, between Olmstead Avenue and Westchester Creek, was not planned to be completed until 1951. The Gull Construction Company was contracted to build this segment in May 1949, and Rusciano & Sons was hired the same month to build the footings for six bridges along the expressway. In addition, Frederick H. Zurmuhlen was supervising the construction of a bridge over Westchester Creek at a cost of $5,287,000; the ten-lane bridge was to supplement a surface-level span. Engineering firms Andrews & Clark and Hardesty & Hanover were hired to supervise the project later in 1949. A short segment near Bruckner Boulevard opened in 1950 and was the first part of the expressway to be completed.
The state government hired the J. Kaufman Demolition Company in 1951 to raze structures on the right-of-way east of the Bronx River Parkway. By early 1953, part of the highway east of the Bronx River Parkway was also being constructed. The construction of this section required excavating underneath the Parkchester station of the New York City Subway's Pelham Line. In addition, the Bronx River had to be relocated several hundred feet in the vicinity of the Bronx River Parkway interchange. The section from the Bronx River Parkway to the Bruckner Interchange opened on November 5, 1955, at the same time as parts of the Queens Midtown and Major Deegan expressways. The first portion of the Cross Bronx Expressway had cost $34.6 million and was about long. The segment was six lanes wide; its original western end was at Rosedale Avenue, where ramps connected to the northbound Bronx River Parkway. A one-mile (1.5 km) western extension from the Bronx River Parkway to a temporary interchange at Longfellow Avenue, near Boston Road, opened on April 23, 1956.
When the Throgs Neck Bridge to Queens opened on January 11, 1961, the Cross Bronx was extended east as one of the bridge's two northern approaches. The other approach—the Throgs Neck Expressway (I-695), which opened later on—also became part of the Interstate Highway System. The Cross Bronx Expressway Extension and the Clearview Expressway were originally designated as part of I-78, which was to continue through Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan to the Holland Tunnel. Ultimately, most of I-78 was canceled in 1971. In anticipation of this change, the Cross Bronx Expressway Extension and the Clearview Expressway were renumbered I-295 on January 1, 1970.
Central section The section of the Cross Bronx Expressway between Anthony and Longfellow Avenues was highly controversial. In early 1953, Bronx borough president James J. Lyons proposed relocating the Cross Bronx Expressway near Crotona Park in order to preserve 1,000 houses in the expressway's right-of-way. Under Lyons's plan, the highway would curve slightly southward and run along the northern edge of Crotona Park, creating a "kink" in the routing. Moses, who called Lyons's proposal "unreasonable", threatened to resign from his position as city construction coordinator if Lyons's alternative was approved. Moses also threatened to cancel federal funding for the entire project. After an acrimonious public hearing in April 1953, the Board of Estimate could not agree on whether to relocate the expressway along Crotona Park. State officials supported Moses's original plan, saying that the Crotona Park alternative would create "curves and reverse curves of sub-standard radius". Ultimately, the Board of Estimate approved Moses's original alignment that May.