SBRWA Calls for Action

City Concludes Two-Year, $1.5 Million Study of Sheridan Expressway Corridor

Coinciding with the official conclusion of a two-year, $1.5 million Sheridan Expressway-Hunts Point Land Use Study, SBRWA was joined by elected officials and other community groups in calling for action to address dangerous neighborhood conditions. Read the Full Press Statement, 6.25.2013.

The City’s final recommendations were revealed by several city agencies during a public meeting on Tuesday, June 25th. The recommendations build on and include various aspects of SBRWA’s Community Plan including:

• direct access from the Bruckner Expressway to the Hunts Point Peninsula
• creation of developable land in the Sheridan footprint
• closure of at least two Sheridan ramps
• extensive pedestrian improvements including safer access to Starlight Park and the Bronx River
• the re-routing of trucks off of local streets.

If implemented these actions will take thousands of trucks off of local streets, increase pedestrian safety, create better access to our parks and the Bronx River and create the potential for affordable housing and local economic development. The City’s recommendations aren’t all that we need but they are a strong foundation on which to build. We are encouraged to see so many pieces of our vision incorporated into the recommendations and are committed now more than ever to work to fully realize our vision for environmental justice.

Next Stop: STATE!: The next step toward implementing these recommendations is to secure a commitment by the State Department of Transportation to complete an environmental review.  Equally important is political support from the incoming mayoral administration to see that the process continues to move forward. To ready our Press Statement on Moving Forward, click here.

“Our neighborhoods have long endured some of the highest asthma rates in the country and are plagued by dangerous local streets. The status quo is completely unacceptable,” said Kellie Terry-Sepulveda of SBRWA member organization The Point CDC.

“The State must capitalize on the two years of engagement from community stakeholders, City agencies and elected officials and take a step forward to create transformative change in the Sheridan corridor. The environmental and economic health of South Bronx communities is at stake,” said Vincent Pellecchia of SBRWA member organization Tri-State Transportation Campaign.