The NY State DOT continues to work on the environmental review for the Bruckner-Sheridan Interchange project in the South Bronx.  Still in the mix are two options for eliminating the Sheridan and likely using the land under it for non-transportation purposes, like a park along the Bronx River.  Those options would build a new Bruckner entrance/exit at Leggett Avenue to ease truck trips to and from Hunts Point businesses.

As part of the study process, committees of different interests recently ranked various options. It’s unclear what utility these findings will have on the study outcome, because the rankings seemed unconstrained by objectivity. While a "transportation efficiency" panel gave Sheridan elimination options good marks because of the new Bruckner ramps included in those options, an "economic development" ranked them extremely low because, presumably, they reduce truck access.

At a recent meeting of all the groups, the "economic development" panel spokeswoman, Myra Gordon of the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative Assn., lamely argued that the Sheridan must be retained to facilitate driving between Westchester and the Bronx and because the Sheridan was recently repaved.

The obvious rejoinders to these points is that the Sheridan sees very little traffic now because it doesn’t extend north of the Cross-Bronx Expressway, and that driving between Westchester and Hunts Point is a negligible activity that bears little on the point of the project. Regarding the new pavement, reconfiguring the South Bronx’ highways is a long-term undertaking and the pavement will benefit the Sheridan’s few motorists for a number of years yet. NY State DOT needs to pick through the yield from these "expert panels" to distinguish thoughtful points from ungrounded, subjective assertions.