NEW YORK CITY-Following a collaboration between a number of city government agencies, a new plan was released Tuesday that provides sweeping transportation and land-use recommendations for greatly improving quality of life in the South Bronx.
The Sheridan Expressway Study: Reconnecting the Neighborhoods Around the Sheridan Expressway and Improving Access to Hunts Point suggests transforming the northern half of the Sheridan Expressway into a local boulevard, improving pedestrian access to the Greenway and Starlight and Concrete Plant parks along the Bronx River, and reducing truck traffic and emissions on local roads. At the same time, the report recommends improving truck access to the businesses of Hunts Point by providing direct ramp access from the Sheridan Expressway to the Hunts Point industrial area. The study's framework also details opportunities to strengthen the community with new retail and mixed-income housing and job opportunities through strategic rezoning.
“This comprehensive study, which draws on the input of many stakeholders and community members, is a critical step towards real improvements that will strengthen these neighborhoods in the South Bronx,” says deputy mayor for economic development Robert Steel. “The recommendations outline a clear vision for change, and we are hopeful future City leaders will use this vision to enact policies that will positively impact the Bronx and our entire City for generations.”
Adds Department of Transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan,“This report is a critical step in designing a safer, more vibrant and more accessible future for the South Bronx. We now have an historic opportunity to reimagine this four-lane eyesore as a neighborhood street that serves the community and the local economy.”
Notes city planning commissioner Amanda Burden, “This report provides thorough transportation, land use, sustainability and economic analyses and presents a comprehensive planning framework to move forward with improvements to local streets, reconfigured expressway ramps, new connections to the waterfront, as well as new affordable housing, open space, improved pedestrian amenities, and strengthened commercial corridors.”
The report is the product of 10 community working-group meetings and dozens of additional meetings with stakeholders, documents the comprehensive transportation, land use, and economic analysis undertaken as part of the study, as well as input received from elected officials, community organizations, and other stakeholders. The recommendations enjoy broad agreement from elected officials, community boards, area businesses and other local groups.
According to an announcement of the report, the Department of City Planning will work to engage the local community and elected representatives to propose specific rezoning initiatives that would allow housing with ground floor retail to create active streetscapes, focus new growth and job opportunities along transit rich corridors, and reinforce the character of adjacent residential areas with proposed zoning tailored to the context of each neighborhood.
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
