Cross-Bronx Expressway Jeff's Bronx Expressways |
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If you have ever wondered if you're in hell,
then you are experiencing a rather normal spiritual quandary
that you share with many. If however, you know without the shadow of a doubt that you are in hell, then you must be on the Cross Bronx Expressway! It has not been unheard of for the greatest technological feats by mankind, to be twisted into the most grotesque delivery systems of misery. Just witness every engineering triumph throughout recorded history, and perhaps even prerecorded, that ended up being used primarily either to kill people in war, or better facilitate that killing. The Cross Bronx Expwy was indeed an engineering marvel, not only when it was carved out of the rocks, sidestreets and tenements of the central Bronx in the 1950's, but even today, by our jaded space-age Y2K technological standards. The complete history of the immense effort needed to plow this highway through it's many obstacles is chronicled in Robert Caro's wonderful book about Robert Moses (the highway engineering Robert Moses, not the civil rights leader), called "The Power Broker" and a veritable wellspring of valuable information can be seen on Steve Anderson's Roads of NY (www.nycroads.com), linked to from my Highways section, itself linked to on the navigation bar in the top frame, to keep links maintenance manageable (sorry). Don't feel bad if you have to click a few times to navigate here. Believe me, it's nothing compared to trying to navigate the Cross Bronx. |
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Truly one of mankind's great physical accomplishments,
this horrible nightmare of a disaster of an expressway has tortured
millions of truckers, tourists and commuters for nearly half
a century now. If the more infamous, albeit less deserving of
the infamy, Long Island Expressway is known far and wide as the
World's Longest Parking Lot, then the Cross Bronx should be called
the World's Longest Funeral Procession, especially for those
headed west, towards Manhattan and the George Washington Bridge. Indeed, the monstrous tie-ups that trap thousands of motorists every hour of every day can literally suck the life force out of your body as you sit behind the wheel wondering if you'll ever make it off of that road alive. For those that hate New York, especially New York City, don't gloat and laugh too soon. The Cross Bronx is an unbreakable link in the chain that forms the massive Interstate 95 system, stretching all the way from the Canadian Maritimes, down the entire East Coast, practically to the Florida Keys. It's not inconceivable that someday, when Castro leaves office, we might not get a direct highway connection down it all the way to Cuba, thence island hopping on pontoon causeways all the way around the Caribbean, down into Venezuela, on through to Patagonia and every single one of these motorists, if they want to get north or south of New York, will have to first go through hell. |
