The NY State Dept. of Transportation’s Bruckner/Sheridan interchange project wrapped up its public scoping process with a Stakeholder/Advisory Committee meeting on Oct. 2. A final scoping document, published in August, included a community-supported plan, long-fought for by the Campaign, Sustainable South Bronx, Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice and other groups, to tear down the Sheridan Expressway and replace it with open space. The "Community Plan" also calls for elevation of the Bruckner Expressway over the Bronx River and new access between the Bruckner and Leggett Avenue to more efficiently move freight in and out of the Hunts Point Market area.

The meeting also kicked off the alternatives screening process, a multi-year endeavor to sift 13 possible alternatives identified during project scoping. DOT has said it will begin traffic modeling shortly. According to the Dept., a combination of traffic considerations, agency priorities, stakeholder input and public acceptance will be used to subject project options to four successive "screenings." Four to six alternatives will be eliminated each time until one preferred alternative emerges. A Draft EIS is scheduled for completion in summer, 2005, with construction planned for 2009. The 13 alternatives will be presented in detail at a meeting tentatively scheduled for November.

To start the screening process, DOT asked stakeholder and advisory committee members to rank a variety of possible project objectives. In written comments, the Campaign said: "We note for the record that many of the draft objectives are extremely vague and could arguably be ‘solved’ by virtually any of the alternatives to be included in the EIS. In addition, many are virtual duplications of each other, which could dilute stated support in some areas." This point was reiterated at Thursday’s meeting, prompting DOT to say that they will consider combining a number of objectives.

But overall, the "objectives" exercise had the feel of going through sterile motions, since the project discussion, even before the scoping process, had advanced to a much more detailed and interesting stage. The "community plan" and various DOT plans for ramps extending into Hunts Point from a rebuilt highway interchange seem likely to be the main project options.

DOT officials said at Thursday’s meeting that Commissioner Joseph Boardman has recently instituted five new "key result areas" that all projects must conform to. They are: improving mobility and reliability, promoting economic sustainability, increasing safety, enhancing security and improving environmental conditions. Transportation reform and Bronx neighborhood advocates clearly feel that the "community plan" fulfills these very well. Removing the Sheridan would eliminate two congestion- and accident-causing interchanges (with the Bruckner and Cross-Bronx Expressway). The Leggett Avenue ramps would provide very efficient highway access to Hunts Point businesses, while keeping trucks away from residential blocks.

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