Pedestrian Bridge over the Major Deegan Connecting Both Sides of Van Cortlandt Park to Become a Reality

Above - Elected Officials Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., State Senator Jeff Klein, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, Congressman Eliot Engel, Councilman Andrew Cohen, stand with DEP Commissioner Emily LLoyd, Parks Commissioner Mitchel Silver, and DDC Commissioner Dr. Feniosky Pena-Mora around the drawing of a new $12 million dollar pedestrian bridge to span the Major Deegan Highway to connect both sides of the Croton Aqueduct Trail that has been divided by the highway ever since it was built.

Below - A close up of the proposed $12 million dollar pedestrian bridge being paid by the DEP ($4 million dollars), Parks Department ($4 million dollars), and $4 million dollars in New York State funds secured by State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Assembly Member Jeffrey Dinowitz, and State Senator Jeff Klein. The pedestrian bridge is projected to be completed sometime in 2019.  

Left - DEP Commissioner Lloyd speaks of the DEP's role in the process of getting the funding.

Right - Bronx BP Ruben Diaz Jr. is happy that he now can allocate any monies that he might of had to put into this project for other similarly important projects. Diaz gave a shot out to the two activists on hand (and both media people) that have been involved with the Croton Water Filtration Plant from the beginning, Mr. Gary Axelbank of Bronxnet T.V., and yours truly of the newspaper the Bronx News. 

Left - Assembly Speaker Heastie tells how as Speaker he was able to help on this project wanted by all.

Right - State Senator Jeff Klein (the only elected official who came to the hot area in just shirt sleeves) thanks all who were involved, including the DEP and Parks Department.  

Left - Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz who has been on the project all along gets to say a few words about connecting two parts of his district that were divided by the highway.

Right - Congressman Eliot Engel states the importance of what this pedestrian bridge means.

Left - Councilman Cohen who was a member of the Friends of Van Cortlandt Park stated that this was one of the first orders of business he delved into when he took office less than 18 months ago. 

Right - Is the signpost for the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail South which just happens to be next to where this announcement was made.