The Department of Transportation has completed reconstruction of the Unionport Bridge — a key Bronx connector now built for the future and for cleaner air.
After nearly a century of wear, the bridge over Westchester Creek has been fully replaced with wider lanes, pedestrian and bike paths, and a new control room. DOT officials say the upgrade will help ease congestion for roughly 60,000 vehicles that cross daily.
“The bridge itself was starting to degrade. We were having to spend a lot of our maintenance effort just to keep it credible to cars and everything else,” said Dennis Biegel, the DOT’s director of movable bridges.
Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez says the project is part of a broader push to rethink freight transportation — shifting delivery traffic off Bronx roadways and onto “Blue Highways,” where goods can move by water instead of diesel truck.
“It’s a new concept, a new idea — how we can provide a different way to move our freight… so Amazon and other companies can also move it by water,” Rodriguez said.
With a major delivery facility just feet from the bridge, DOT officials hope the investment will help reduce the borough’s high asthma rates — long linked to truck pollution.
What may feel like a brief delay for drivers as barges pass below could add up to cleaner air and healthier Bronx neighborhoods for decades to come.
