Although NYS DOT has agreed to produce a Bronx traffic flow model that assumes the removal of the Sheridan Expressway, this exercise falls short of making removal of the highway a full-blown alternative in the environmental impact statement. If included as an option in the EIS, the project's costs and benefits can be presented.

The Council resolution states that the high cost of NYS DOT projects related to the Sheridan Expressway, low daily use of the Expressway, and lack of open space in the surrounding neighborhoods are reasons enough to study green alternatives for the space.

A NY State DOT plan to build a bicycle/pedestrian greenway between Bronx Park and little-used Starlight Park along the Bronx River dovetails well with the Campaign's call for decommissioning the Bronx' Sheridan Expressway. The proposal is buried in a run-of-the-mill pavement project for the Expressway. The greenway segment would run from East Tremont Avenue to 172nd Street along the Bronx River, eventually linking up with a greenway running from Westchester through Bronx Park and down the Bronx River to the East River. Overall, the greenway concept would be tremendously enhanced and offer far greater quality of life improvement to the surrounding community by transformation of the Sheridan Expressway right-of-way into parkland. As it is now, the Sheridan walls communities off from the Bronx River waterfront and Starlight Park, and presents a severe constraint on development of worthwhile recreational opportunities in the area.

See information related to this article:

• Click here to see the Campaign's concept paper: "Redundant Roadway: Deconstructing the Bronx' Sheridan Expressway"

• Click here to see the Campaign's 12/11/98 press release: "NYC Council asks State DOT to study converting the Bronx Sheridan Expressway to a park"