Sheridan FAQs
The New Community on the Sheridan Plan sounds interesting, but who ever heard of tearing down a highway?
Our New Community Plan is not unprecedented. Highway removal projects have succeeded with the Embarcadero Freeway in San Francisco and with the Mt. Hood Freeway in Portland, Oregon. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Toronto, Canada, and Akron, Ohio are all in the process of tearing down elevated highways. These projects have all produced major economic and environmental benefits, and any traffic issues have been successfully mitigated.
Won’t traffic get worse if you tear a highway down? I don't want any more trucks driving down local streets!
Neither do we! In other cities where highways have been removed, the overall volume of traffic has usually decreased. And the Community Plan is designed specifically to deal with what are currently the worst traffic bottlenecks by providing direct access to Hunts Point from the Bruckner Expressway. Right now, since there is no exit into Hunts Point from the Bruckner, trucks get off early and use local streets to get to the markets. Our Community Plan put a direct exit in and out of Hunts Point at Leggett Ave., so trucks would no longer have to take local streets. The result? Less trucks in our neighborhoods and safer streets for everyone. And in July 2008 SDOT said that their plans for the Bruckner included an interchange the Oak Point freight yards right next to Leggett Ave., which is great news for SBRWA and for the community.
If the Sheridan is removed, what would happen to the land that it now occupies?
SBRWA conducted community visioning meetings to get ideas about what the community wanted to see on the Sheridan land. Demapping the Sheridan would mean getting 28 acres of land along the Bronx River without displacing any families. Our New Community Plan addresses the needs of our community such as open space, access to parks, affordable housing, and economic opportunities. Our Plan would offer 1,200 unites of affordable housing, 500,000 square feet of commercial/community space, 700 new jobs, and long-term economic development! To view our entire Plan for the new community on the Sheridan, click here.
What about a compromise? Isn't there an idea to deck over the parts of the Sheridan that are underground and create an "urban boulevard?"
Converting the Sheridan to an “urban boulevard” isn’t a real compromise, or even a viable solution. There would still be a major truck route in front of four schools – just like the Sheridan but with stoplights and crosswalks, separating our communities from Starlight Park and the Bronx River. There would be no space for any new housing, businesses, open space, or other uses. Only a short section of the Sheridan – the ¼- mile stretch of the highway immediately south of Westchester Avenue - runs below the ground and could be decked over. This section is wedged between Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor tracks, and the elevated #6 train, and is not suitable for residential development. The “boulevard” proposal also does nothing to fix the interchange between the Sheridan and the Bruckner Expressway, or to improve access to Hunts Point. The SBRWA has never endorsed the boulevard idea because it isn't a compromise and fails to solve the problems that NYSDOT’s Environmental Impact Study is intended to address.
When will there be a decision about what to do with the Sheridan?
A decision about the Bruckner-Sheridan Interchange has been taking an very, very long time. In July 2008, NYSDOT concluded that the previously conceived extension of the Sheridan down Edgewater Road was physically impossible; something SBRWA had been saying for years. NYSDOT is now back to the design phase and expects to release a Draft Enviornmental Impact Statement (DEIS) in early 2010. Although this seems far away, it gives us time to really pressure our elected officials and organize both community and elected support for the New Community Plan. The more support the plan has, the better its chances on being chosen. If you want us to notify you of these meetings, send us an email.
I’m interested, and I’d like to know more about the New Community on the Sheridan Plan. What can I do?
You can sign our petition saying that you support alternative 1E, which would allow the New Community Plan to be built. You can also keep checking this website and attend the events and meetings hosted by SBRWA. Since this is a Community Plan, it is essential to have community support! By staying informed, debunking common myths about the Community Plan, and pressuring electeds to take a stand, we can organize the support we need to create a better quality of life for the South Bronx.
Or you can contact us at:
Ashwin Balakrishnan
SBRWA Coordinator & Organizer
1384 Stratford Ave. Bronx, NY 10472
tel: 718.328.5622 ext. 16
e: ashwin.sbrwa@gmail.com
www.southbronxvision.org
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