Last update:
2016-03-02

Cross Bronx Highway, USA

An historical urban justice issue in New York city, when between 1948 and 1972 a highway was built by one of the biggest infrastructure promoters of the times, known as the "master builder"



Description:

The Cross Bronx Expressway is a major freeway in the New York City borough of the Bronx built between 1948 and 1963.  Envisioned and managed by Robert Moses, this freeway was an engineering marvel that brought opportunity and connectivity at the expense of local neighborhoods it destroyed in its path. In 1936, the Regional Plan Association (RPA) proposed an extensive network of expressways and parkways covering the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan area with the goal of the expressway providing all traffic safe and uninterrupted roadways and solving New York’s traffic problems. The Cross Bronx expressway was one recommended route and would connect multiple bridges in the metropolitan area, serving as the only means of east-west travel through the middle Bronx [1]. This freeway was the brainchild of Robert Moses who was very active in many facets of the city’s planning and management.  He often controlled the City Planning Commission, came to dominate the city’s Housing Authority, and created a title for himself as the City Construction Coordinator which gave him authority over nearly every public construction project in the city of New York [2].  Moses proposed more than 100 miles of new expressways in the five boroughs of New York City in the 1945 highway plan.  Within this plan was the proposed Cross Bronx Expressway which was an 8.3 mile long, six-lane freeway which had to cross 113 streets, seven expressways and parkways, one subway line, five elevated lines, three commuter rail lines, and hundreds of utility, water and sewer lines without disrupting any of them during construction [1].

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Basic Data
Name of conflict:Cross Bronx Highway, USA
Country:United States of America
State or province:New York
Location of conflict:New York
Accuracy of locationHIGH (Local level)
Source of Conflict
Type of conflict. 1st level:Infrastructure and Built Environment
Type of conflict. 2nd level:Urban development conflicts
Transport infrastructure networks (roads, railways, hydroways, canals and pipelines)
Specific commodities:Land
Project Details and Actors
Project details

Level of Investment for the conflictive project140,000,000
Type of populationUrban
Affected Population:1400-5000
Start of the conflict:01/01/1948
End of the conflict:01/01/1972
Company names or state enterprises:Robert Moses from United States of America
Relevant government actors:New York City government, Tenant Relocation Bureau, Regional Plan Association
Environmental justice organizations (and other supporters) and their websites, if available:East Tremont Neighborhood Association
Conflict & Mobilization
IntensityLOW (some local organising)
Reaction stagePREVENTIVE resistance (precautionary phase)
Groups mobilizing:Neighbours/citizens/communities
Women
Ethnically/racially discriminated groups
Religious groups
Forms of mobilization:Development of alternative proposals
Official complaint letters and petitions
Public campaigns
Street protest/marches
Appeals/recourse to economic valuation of the environment
Impacts
Environmental ImpactsVisible: Air pollution, Biodiversity loss (wildlife, agro-diversity), Loss of landscape/aesthetic degradation, Noise pollution, Waste overflow, Deforestation and loss of vegetation cover
Health ImpactsVisible: Accidents, Health problems related to alcoholism, prostitution, Occupational disease and accidents
Socio-economical ImpactsVisible: Increase in Corruption/Co-optation of different actors, Displacement, Land dispossession, Loss of landscape/sense of place
Outcome
Project StatusIn operation
Conflict outcome / response:Corruption
Migration/displacement
Proposal and development of alternatives:The East Tremont Neighborhood Association developed a plan for an alternative route for the highway, one that would run a couple of blocks south of the plan put forth by Robert Moses and one that would avoid displacing 1400 families and only require a few families be moved along with a bus stop.
Do you consider this an environmental justice success? Was environmental justice served?:No
Briefly explain:Robert Moses did not consider the proposed alternative plan, would not listen to the opposition, and went forward with his plan knowing the consequences and not caring. Progress was his goal.
Sources & Materials
References to published books, academic articles, movies or published documentaries

[1]Cross Bronx Expressway- Historic Overview
[click to view]

[2]New York Times Learning Network: Robert Moses, Master Builder, is Dead at 92
[click to view]

[3]Recognizing Environmental Justice in History: Resistance and Agency in the Cross Bronx Expressway and the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike by Sarah Berkley, Connecticut College (2011)
[click to view]

[4]"Heartbreak Highway" - Steve Alpert, 2003
[click to view]

[5] 5 Things in NYC We Can Blame on Robert Moses - December 2013
[click to view]

Did Robert Moses Ruin New York City? - Barron's March 7, 2012
[click to view]

The Legacy of Robert Moses - PBS January 17, 2013
[click to view]

Other documents

1998 Photo of Southbound Cross Bronx Expressway at Westchester Ave Subway line elevated over road in distance

Credit: Steve Anderson, nycroards.com
[click to view]

Meta information
Contributor:Bernadette Grafton and Paul Mohai, [email protected] and [email protected], University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environmen
Last update18/08/2019
Conflict ID:1387
Comments
Legal notice / Aviso legal
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