NYSDOT presents Phase 2 of Bruckner Expressway improvements to Bronx Community Board 11

New York State Department of Transportation officials on Monday presented the Phase 2 design for the Bruckner Expressway Mobility Improvements Project, telling Community Board 11 the work would reconfigure closely spaced ramps, widen a bridge, add continuous auxiliary lanes and improve bicycle and pedestrian crossings along roughly 1.1 miles of I‑95 and short stretches of the Hutchinson River Parkway and Pelham Parkway in the northeastern Bronx.

The project follows Phase 1 improvements completed in mid‑2024 and aims to reduce congestion and enhance safety for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists using the I‑95 corridor. “This project is an important piece in a larger effort to improve safety, reduce congestion, and enhance mobility for drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists who use the I‑95 Corridor every day,” said Kevin Vishnu, project supervisor for New York State DOT.

DOT said Phase 2 design limits include about 1.1 miles of I‑95 in both directions, about 0.7 miles of the Hutchinson River Parkway and roughly 0.3 miles of Pelham Parkway. Key proposals shown to the committee include: widening the arch bridge that carries northbound I‑95 over the Hutchinson River Parkway to fit a continuous auxiliary lane; creating a two‑lane exit to the northbound Hutchinson River Parkway at Exit 9; reconfiguring southbound merge points and removing an underused, substandard loop ramp from southbound I‑95 to northbound Hutchinson River Parkway; adding an entrance from Bartow Avenue to the southbound Hutchinson River Parkway to give Co‑op City direct access; and installing a bus turnaround near the planned Metro‑North station in Co‑op City. DOT also proposed realigning shared‑use greenway paths and adding signalized pedestrian and bicycle crossings where the greenway crosses roadways.

Project staff said the design seeks to consolidate multiple short weaving distances that now create bottlenecks — in one southbound segment DOT counted six points of entry and exit within about a mile — and to remove or reconfigure ramps that are both safety risks and underused. AECOM, DOT’s traffic modeler, “yielded that a higher number of vehicles wish to take” the Hutchinson River Parkway exit than the existing single‑lane configuration can handle, according to DOT’s presentation. Sabina Sadiq, project manager, and Gloramar Reyes, director of design in the regional office, joined Vishnu for the presentation.

Members of the community raised safety concerns and requested that DOT consider recent accidents at the Phase 1 reconfigured interchange near Pelham Parkway. A resident said there were memorials and reported “three deaths and at least six accidents” near the new signals; DOT responded that AECOM had performed an accident analysis and that staff would review accident causes and consider whether design adjustments could address them. On the planned removal of the loop ramp to the Hutch, several bus drivers and residents said the ramp is used daily. DOT replied that the ramp is underutilized in traffic counts, lacks an adequate acceleration lane and that the team weighed safety, volume and corridor performance when proposing its removal.

Committee members also asked whether drawbridge openings on the Hutchinson River create recurring backups that would blunt the project’s benefits. Ron Deo Monte, DOT public information officer, said there is no simple, universally deployable signage solution that warns highway drivers of a drawbridge opening at long range in all cases, and he described DOT’s regular traffic and travel advisories distributed to elected officials and community boards. He encouraged residents to submit comments and said DOT would follow up with written answers to a list of community questions.

DOT officials said environmental studies for the project are underway to address noise, air quality, historic and water resources, visual impacts and effects on disadvantaged communities. They listed coordination with New York City DOT, New York City Parks Department, Federal Highway Administration, New York State Parks and the MTA (Metro‑North Railroad and MTA buses). The timeline shown to the committee places preliminary design completion around mid‑2026, final design in early 2028 and construction starting in mid‑2028.

Attendees asked DOT to circulate the presentation. DOT said it had not previously shared the slides and agreed to provide a PDF of the materials and to return to the committee for further discussion as design progresses.

Next steps: DOT will advance preliminary design and environmental review, continue agency coordination, prepare a public posting of the presentation and respond in writing to the safety and access questions raised at the meeting.