A freak chain-reaction accident on the Cross Bronx Expressway early Sunday morning left one young mother dead and her brother in a coma, as a result of icy conditions on the road from Saturday's snowstorm. more ›

This morning, there have been a couple crashes with multiples injuries. One was on the Cross Bronx Expressway, between a tractor-trailer, a van and other cars, with at least seven injured. The other was on the Manhattan Bridge, involving a motorcycle and two cars. more ›

A new study from AAA finds that at least 40% of the lights on three of the city's busiest highways are broken or burned out. The Cross Bronx Expressway is the worst culprit, with a 46% light failure rate all around. The Major Deegan had 38% failure, while the Henry Hudson Parkway had up to 54% failure along some stretches. AAA spokesman Robert Sinclair told the Post, "Roads in our area are among the most poorly engineered and maintained in the country, making adequate lighting critical to safety." How reassuring. more ›

A recent nationwide round-up of metropolitan commutes placed NYC's sort of near the top of the list, at sixth place. But of the area's highways and byways, the Cross Bronx Expressway is a standout for congestion, reported the Daily Beast. “There’s an old phrase that we used to have: too many cars and not enough roadway, and that fits the Cross Bronx to a T,” said Tom Kaminski, traffic reporter for WCBS 880. “There’s no room to expand, there’s no way to throw in an additional lane or an additional shoulder—people have started changing their driving habits whenever they can.” more ›

Inrix, a company which provides real-time traffic information, released its latest National Traffic Scorecard and NYC is the second most congested city in the country, after Los Angeles. However, we do take top honors for having the most congested roadway—a westbound stretch of the Cross Bronx Expressway/I-95 leading up to and including the Bronx River Parkway exit 4B interchange. The NYC area actually has of the worst bottlenecks—the others are Cross Bronx Expy WB @ I-895/Sheridan Expy, Cross Bronx Expy WB @ White Plains Rd, Harlem River Dr SB @ 3rd Ave, Van Wyck Expy NB @ Liberty Ave, and Harlem River Dr SB @ 2nd Ave/125th St. Check out the other horrible bottlenecks in NYC here and NY1 interviewed drivers on the Cross Bronx—one said, "It's difficult every single day. It needs at least another level." more ›

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Looks like someone took that pirate trend a little too far. The NY Times is reporting on Brian Markey and Owen Cahillane, who are sailing the high seas in their floating abode. Okay, no sailing is involved, but the two roommates, recently transplanted from New Orleans and channeling the spirit of Davy Crockett, live day in and day out on a houseboat in the Bronx. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a triple shooting on East 21st St. and Caton Ave. in Brooklyn, a missing child on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, and a mass casualty incident at Castle Hill Ave. and the Cross Bronx Expressway.
• Many New Yorkers donned black this Thursday in solidarity with the Jena 6.
• Cops are looking for a man who applied for a job at the Duane Reade on 34th St. and 5th Ave., only to return to the store a few minutes later brandishing a silver-colored gun and demanding money.
• The Parks Dept. has officially ended the bid for a company to build a 26-acre water-park on Randall's Island.
• A 45-year-old bachelor is striving for independence from the bedroom in his parents' home, where he's organizing a campign for an independent Long Island Nation. He wants Brooklyn, Queens, and the rest of the island to break off not just from NYC, but to secede from the United States.
• A kayak and canoe ramp opened in the Idlewild Park Preserve on Jamaica Bay in Queens, but not all residents seemed that enthusiastic.
• Former NJ Governor Jim McGreevey was ordered by a judge to pay his ex-wife $2,500 a month in alimony.
• New York City and State have agreed on a set of safety protocols that will be enacted at the Deutsche Bank building in the next two to three weeks.

Forty-six-year-old Maritza Suarez was run over by a cement mixer at the intersection of Morris Ave. and White Plains Rd. yesterday, in what the New York Post writes was a heroic effort to push her 17-year-old daughter out of the way of an oncoming vehicle that didn't appear to be slowing for pedestrians crossing the street. It indeed wasn't about to yield, because it struck Suarez, who was crushed underneath its wheels. more ›

In 2005, hip-hop pioneers DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Caz, Melle Mel and more, lent their names and likenesses to a vintage hip-hop clothing company called Sedgwick & Cedar. The press release for the company told this story: "on August 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc's sister Cindy Campbell decided to throw a back to school party in her building's small rec room at 1520 Sedgwick Ave. Kool Herc introduced extended break beats, which mesmerized the jam packed crowd. Soon, he had to take the party outside and down the street to Cedar Park, drawing thousands throughout the night to see the birth of the art form." From the one building, that art form saturated the world. more ›

Four months after the opening of three much mulled-over Robert Moses exhibitions, the debate over his legacy shows no signs of waning. Yesterday’s NY Times delved yet again into the morass, this time wondering whether the two perspectives are simply creatures of their cultural moments – a city embroiled in decay vs. a city experiencing a growth spurt. more ›

A drunk driver hit a livery van on Queens Boulevard early Sunday morning, killing a van passenger - a 28-year-old new mother. The van was carrying a family (six adults and three children; the van did not have seat belts) who had been celebrating in Brooklyn. Paula Serrano was killed, and she had been holding her 3-week-old baby in her lap (the baby was not seriously injured). Serrano's husband and 6-year-old daughter, as well as other relatives, had minor injuries. The crash occurred blocks from their Sunnyside home. more ›

A little more information about the fatal drunk driving incident Friday night on the Cross Bronx Expressway. The driver of a Nissan Pathfinder, Glenn Salera, fled the wreckage of his car - and his injured friend - after hitting a tractor-trailer. The tractor-trailer was moving slowly because of traffic, and Salera, who had been speeding, swerved to avoid the vehicle, but the front-passenger side was badly damaged (the Daily News has a picture showing a mangled car). more ›

Gridskipper solicited picks for the city's ugliest buildings from eleven architecture-minded New Yorkers. The list includes Astor Place’s The Sculpture for Living building (which replaced a parking lot), the Queens Citicorp Building, the Pan Am Building (now the MetLife Building), the AT&T Building on Church St., the Cross Bronx Expressway and anything by Trump – but the Trump World Tower isn't really that ugly. Someone even mentioned the Hearst Tower. Wow. more ›

The "Unusual MVA" yesterday afternoon involving racehorses on the Cross Bronx Expressway turned tragic. A 3-year-old gelding had kicked his hind leg through the trailer's floor while being transported from a stable in Ghent, NY to Belmont Park. Drivers noticed the horse's leg and got the trailer's driver to pull over. more ›

Robert Moses’ legacy may be getting tweaked if organizers of three upcoming exhibitions have their way. more ›

Could it be true? The New York Post is reporting that the DoT has approved a plan to build a 3.5 mile, $12.8 billion, seven lane tunnel under the Brooklyn waterfront, and then demolish the existing Gowanus Expressway. If funded, the project could be complete in about 15 years. Since Robert Moses approved construction of the expressway over a disused elevated rail in 1939, the highway has been a huge headache for the city. It's perpetually under-construction, traffic clogged, and worst of all, it cuts off all of Red Hook and the Sunset Park Waterfront from the rest of Brooklyn. Just as the Cross Bronx Expressway cut off the South Bronx from the rest of the city and caused it to spiral into decline, Moses' Gowanus project resulted in a crime-ridden, rubble strewn Brooklyn waterfront, where there could have been a vibrant neighborhood filled with puppies and parks and families. That bastard! more ›

Gothamist heads to the Bronx for a few things, Yankees games, trips to the zoo and dinners on Arthur Avenue, but a lot people are now heading there to live. With prices in the city becoming ever less affordable, the South Bronx may be the last bastion of reasonable value. more ›

And if you take the 4, 5 or 6 trains, the delays and suspended service are because of some signal problems. Of course. more ›

A water main broke in Washington Heights yesterday, affecting the Cross Bronx Expressway and residents and shopowners alike. The pipe was 108 years old, and a stretch of Amsterdam Avenue looked, well, like Amsterdam. Except for the cars in the water. While potentially devestating to business owners in the neighborhood, the Daily News reports that Mayor Bloomberg said the break was "nothing compared to the [Staten Island Ferry] tragedy last night....I'm happy to report that while there's been some inconvenience, there's not been any lasting damage." The clean-up should take 24 hours. So even though you may not live in the suburbs, where your basement can flood, New Yorkers can get screwed by flooding waters. Water main breaks rank up there with blackouts and transit strikes on the list of things that can really suck when living in the city. more ›