The DOT's Region 11 office says heavy traffic volumes, chronic congestion, safety deficiencies, poor pavement and bridge conditions and the Cross-Bronx' important goods movement function require action on the Bronx highways. The Cross-Bronx Expressway is a key part of the East Coast I-95 corridor, and trucks are a quarter of the vehicles traversing the Bronx segment.

Declining Port Authority revenue from the George Washington Bridge (GWB) may also be at issue. The Port Authority's 1995-1999 business plan lamented chronic congestion on the Cross Bronx in connection with the threat posed by "less congested alternative routes." However, trucks crossing the GWB fell by only 170,000 annually from 1993 to 1995, following the connection of I-287 in NJ with the NY State Thruway (and Tappan Zee Bridge). Port Authority funds will not be used for Phase I of the study, but the PA will get involved once alternatives have been proposed, DOT sources say. Subsequent phases may address the Hutchinson River, Bronx River, Pelham and Henry Hudson Parkways and the Bruckner and Sheridan Expressways.

As currently conceived, Phase I will seek to enhance the Cross Bronx' goods movement capacity. A DOT engineer told the Campaign a continuous service road along the expressway could reserve through lanes for trucks by removing local traffic. Depending on the configuration of the service road, however, corridor communities are likely to have serious concerns about the road below their homes becoming the de facto expressway for cars. The study will also focus on the Highbridge Interchange (I-95/I-87), considering possible new ramp configurations, including new Harlem River crossings. While the prospect of the latter would be a major development, DOT sources were reluctant to discuss it.

Urbitran, the DOT's consultant, is to recommend three final alternatives to improve auto, transit and truck transportation in the corridors. In addition to a continuous service road, strategies to be examined include priority truck lanes, HOV lanes, improved or new park / ride facilities in the Bronx and Westchester and intelligent transportation systems (ITS).

DOT sources said the Harlem River Rail Yard could figure prominently in the study, but didn't discuss how. Likely objects of analysis are determining truck volumes from future intermodal and industrial operations and planning efficient and least-impact routes between the site and arterial highways.

DOT says it is undertaking the "needs assessment study" to identify problems and needs in these corridors. But discussions of a continuous service road, truck priority and HOV lanes suggest that the DOT's solutions are already taking shape. The agency might better serve the public and region's economy if it considers Cross-Bronx freight issues in the context of a broad goods movement strategy that is consistent with the resolution of options being debated for the Tappan Zee and Goethals Bridges, and for cross-harbor rail freight.