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].

While the expressway was successfully able to avoid disrupting any of these other transportation systems and lines, it was not successful at avoiding local neighborhoods.  The planned expressway ran directly through Crotona Park, an important gathering place for the Bronx community, and it was going to displace 1400 families.  The Jewish community living in the Bronx was central to the movement to block the construction of the highway. Women were a major part of the opposition and were joined by socialists and Zionists because the struggle fit with their philosophical beliefs [3]. Those in the path of the expressway supported an alternative route and formed the East Tremont Neighborhood Association which ended up being one of the strongest social forces standing in the way.  This Association formed after eviction letters were distributed to tenants in the path of the route in 1946 telling them they had two months to move.  A public rally was held in October of 1953 but neither the officials nor the public had the strength to influence Moses [4]. Moses trivialized protests that were organized by local people and vehemently opposed any other route.  Residents who were waging this battle were working-class people without the capital to run a successful campaign.  They were unable to pay legal fees needed to challenge the decision (eminent domain) of the city in court.  Additionally, the opposition was very localized and was not able to generate outside support.  To add to the struggle, Moses was unavailable to the residents for meetings with the community and the city would not allow reporters or media to attend events, making publicity of the fight extremely limited [3].   The highway was constructed in three sections. In 1952, more than six years after Moses announced his plans for the freeway, construction was yet to begin on Section 3, the route that would displace numerous residents in the East Tremont and Morris Heights neighborhoods. The delay was the result of strong opposition which suggested and alternative route that would significantly reduce the number of families that would have to be displaced by running two blocks south of the proposed plan and only moving 19 families along with the Third Avenue Transit station.  Moses, who had no prior interest in helping mass transit, was in favor of preserving a bus station because of some friends who influenced him to spare their investments and continue with the original route [1]. The Cross Bronx Expressway caused a migration of middle and upper class residents to the north and left the south portion to become an underserved slum of low-income residents.  It ultimately favored car culture and ignored the needs of the large population in New York City that could not afford a car [5].

The construction of the highway itself produced numerous environmental issues for the surrounding neighborhoods.  Debris from demolished houses was not removed from the area and was left wherever it landed.  The demolition process caused air pollution in the form of dust and resulted in community services vacating the area.  As a result, garbage collection ceased even for those who could not leave.  Additionally, noise pollution from the demolition process and the highway negatively impacted the neighborhoods the highway destroyed [3].

Even though relocation of 1400 families began in 1946, the highway wasn’t completed until 1963, some 15 years after construction began at a cost of $140 million [1]. Today, the expressway remains a headache for commuters with terrible congestion.  Besides being known for ruining neighborhoods, it is known for being the site of the worst traffic jams outside of California.  It carries over 175,000 vehicles daily between two major interchanges that this expressway connects [4].