The Cross Bronx Expressway as New Yorkers know it is in for some major changes. To keep hundreds of trucks from spewing pollution straight into the air, local and federal leaders want to cap parts of the expressway.

Transportation officials unveiled 13 proposals Wednesday they say will improve the quality of life for the more than 200,000 people who live around the expressway.

What You Need To Know

  • Local and federal leaders want to cap parts of the Cross Bronx Expressway. Officials have unveiled 13 proposals they say will improve the quality of life for those who live around it

  • The caps, or highway covers, can connect a portion of the highway that runs below ground, creating new opportunities to increase public space, connect community and expand access to green space

  • Bronx residents can attend community meetings coming up to provide input

"Tomorrow is about covering up the highways. Tomorrow is about more trees,” Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi said at a press conference.

In the short term over the next two years, the city plans to increase speed and improve reliability of bus service on Tremont Avenue; build out the Fordham Area and Soundview bicycle networks; and ramp up initiatives to reduce pollution from trucks and move some freight deliveries from the expressway to the water.

"We are doing our best to fix the issues that came before us,” State Assemblymember Chantel Jackson said.

The Cross Bronx was built between the 1940s and 1970s. It displaced tens of thousands of families, and still pollutes the area with exhaust from vehicles, including hundreds of diesel trucks each day, causing some of the highest asthma rates in the country.

"Recognizing the dark history that the Cross Bronx has been for decades systemic racism, dividing communities of color, residential communities that deserve so much more,” Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson said.

In the midterm, the city is planning studies that include figuring out the best places to create more green space. 

In the long term, the city says more research is needed before highway caps can be built, which cost an average of at least $2 billion each, and can only be used in some locations.

The city's Department of Transportation says a cap could be placed along the Cross Bronx Expressway from Crotona Park to Walter Park.

“A highway cap can cover a portion of the highway that runs below ground, creating new opportunities to increase public space, connect community and expand access to green space,” DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said.

Community meetings will be held for residents to provide feedback. There are three coming up this month; to learn more, visit the Reimagine the Cross Bronx website. 

There is no word on when a design needs to be chosen.