It's true, Cross-Bronx is worst

By Kevin Deutsch

A national traffic study released last week reinforced what many Riverdale/Kingsbridge residents have always suspected: three sections of the Cross Bronx Expressway were among the worst bottlenecks in the country last year.

The Cross Bronx Expressway at the interchange of Bronx River Parkway was ranked most congested in the nation, with interchanges at Sheridan Expressway and White Plains Road deemed third and fourth worst.

The study ranked New York City overall as the second most congested area in the country. Only Los Angeles had worse traffic, the study found.

“If you’re going to get on the Cross-Bronx, you’re going to get stuck,” said Robert Sinclair Jr., AAA New York's Manager of Media Relations.

The reasons for the congestion, Mr. Sinclair said, include an inordinate amount of trucks whose drivers have few other route options; too few road shoulder areas for broken-down cars; hills that create blind spots; and narrow lanes.

“It’s a formula for disaster,” he said.

The INRIX National Traffic Scorecard 2008 Annual Report created its rankings using tens of billions of GPS data points from vehicles traveling across 47,000 miles of major roadways.

Nationwide, congestion was down 30 percent in 2008, a finding INRIX called “startling.”

Other findings in the study:

• During peak driving times, a random traveler on a random trip on the analyzed roads took 9 percent more time, on average, than if there was no congestion.
• National congestion was lower every hour of every day in 2008 versus 2007.
• Wednesdays saw the biggest drop in congestion, with a 31-percent overall decrease during peak driving periods.
• Congestion during times other than day and evening weekday commuting times decreased by more than 36 percent.

INRIX believes the poor economy, higher average fuel costs and increased unemployment led to decreased congestion.

The six-lane Cross-Bronx Expressway passes over, under, and around rail, sewer, and utility lines, 113 roads, a subway line, and seven highways, none of which could be disrupted during the expressway’s construction between 1948 and 1963, according to the city's Department of Parks & Recreation.

The construction of the expressway proved such a difficult engineering problem that moving the Bronx River 500 feet to accommodate it was considered a minor project. Each mile of the highway required the demolition of approximately 50 apartment buildings and the relocation of 5,000 people, according to the calculations of the city’s unquestioned master builder of his day, Robert Moses.