Study Says Fresh Direct Warehouse Brought More Auto Traffic to the South Bronx
Fresh Direct facility located in the South Bronx
Streetsblog NYC
By: Dave Colon
Fresh Direct doesn’t mean fresh air.
A Fresh Direct warehouse that opened in the South Bronx contributed to increased traffic congestion in two neighborhoods, according to Columbia University researchers who analyzed two years of Google map data. The findings contradict an environmental assessment for the project that found that there would be no “significant adverse environmental impact” once the warehouse opened.
The researchers, working with environmental justice group South Bronx Unite, studied traffic patterns from June 2017 to June 2019, which covered periods before and after the warehouse opened in Port Morris in 2018. Looking at the highways near the warehouse, a residential area in Mott Haven just north of the Harlem River Yards and a pair of mixed-use areas in Port Morris bordering the river yard, the study concluded that auto traffic “increased significantly throughout the day in mixed-use areas next to the Harlem River Yards. … Congestion also increased significantly at night in a nearby, highly populated residential area.”
