NY State DOT agreed that, as part of its study of the Bruckner-Sheridan interchange, it would analyze traffic patterns south of Fordham Road under the assumption that the Sheridan Expressway no longer existed.

Nos Quedamos, the Point, the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign have recommended converting the Sheridan into parkland, instead of undertaking an expensive overhaul of the Bruckner-Sheridan intersection. The Sheridan is only a fragment of a planned highway that was never finished, is little used and is redundant within the Bronx highway network.

Despite DOT's agreement to look at the elimination of the Sheridan, it is still unclear whether the option will be included in the Bruckner-Sheridan environmental impact statement - the groups advocating the Sheridan park hope that once the NYS DOT research commences, the option will be fully explored.

Since the community groups proposed deconstructing the Sheridan, NYS DOT has changed the title of the Bruckner-Sheridan interchange project to "Bruckner/Sheridan Expressway and Cross-Bronx Expressway /Bronx River Parkway/East 177^th St. Complex." The DOT is interested in linking the Bronx River Parkway to the Sheridan via a new highway link along E. 177^th. This would bring more traffic onto the Sheridan and justify upgraded Bruckner-Sheridan ramps. Otherwise, the Bruckner-Sheridan project goals could be met more cheaply by simply eliminating the Sheridan and the interchange.

Although no specific plans exist yet for the 177^th St. highway link, a NYS DOT engineer described the outline of the project at this week's tour and meeting. A ramp three blocks long would be placed above 177^th Street from the Bronx River Parkway to the Sheridan Expressway. It would allow cars to avoid a traffic light at 177^th St. and Devoe Ave. It would have to be high enough to allow local traffic to flow underneath it - when asked to compare the ramp's height to apartment buildings along 177^th St., the engineer said that it would probably be about two or three stories high. The ramp would pass the playground of PS 214 at the top of the schoolyard's fence. It could also complicate entry and exit to a new MTA bus depot under construction on the south side of 177^th St.

A NYS DOT spokesperson said the 177^th St. connector would be analyzed as an integral part of the Bruckner-Sheridan interchange upgrade, not as a stand-alone project. NYS DOT also said it would hold a public meeting to clarify the connection between the Sheridan projects and the Bronx Arterial Needs "major investment study," which to date seeks principally to address long-term issues related to the Cross-Bronx and Major Deegan Expressways.