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ANTIQUE & ESTATE BUYERS Report pitches $11 billion tunnel as BQE replacement
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COURIER L 12 IFE, FEB. 28-MAR. 5, 2020
A City Council report proposes replacing the BQE with an $11 billion tunnel running from the
Prospect Expressway to Bedford Avenue. Photo courtesy of Corey Johnson DIGGIN’ IT!
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
An engineering fi rm contracted
by City Council is proposing a scheme
to demolish the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway
— and replace it with a $11 billion
tunnel!
The report by engineering and design
fi rm Arup proposes a three-mile,
four-lane bypass tunnel that would
stretch from the Prospect Expressway
to Bedford Avenue, allowing the
city and state to turn much of the BQE
through brownstone Brooklyn into a
ground-level boulevard complete with
bus and bike lanes, parks, and other
public facilities.
The downside? Construction would
take between seven-10 years to complete
— at least two years beyond the 2025 crisis
point when the BQE’s triple-cantilever
is expected to become unsafe — and
will cost anywhere from $5-11 billion,
according to Arup’s estimates.
The plans call for fi lling in the trench
where the highway runs through Cobble
Hill, tearing down the crumbling triplecantilever
between Atlantic Avenue and
Sands Street, and removing the Park
Avenue viaduct.
The tunnel would primarily service
through-traffi c, while planners would
encourage Manhattan-bound drivers
from the north to take the Williamsburg
Bridge, and those from the south to go
into the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel.
New York City Council, spearheaded
by Council Speaker and mayoral candidate
Corey Johnson (D–Manhattan),
tasked Arup in September with studying
the BQE repairs, a monumental
task, which has challenged experts with
creating a strategy to renovate the 66-
year-old freeway — without creating a
traffi c nightmare.
The city’s Department of Transportation
proposed to spend between $3.2
and $4 billion on their two controversial
ideas from 2018 to either fi x the roadway
or build a temporary six-lane highway
on top of the beloved Brooklyn Heights
promenade, which residents quickly
panned.
One of the key alternatives that Arup
highlights are a decked roadway at Furman
Street, along with replacing the
triple-cantilever with an expansion of
Brooklyn Bridge Park, similarly to the
proposals by international architecture
fi rm Bjarke Ingels Group and Mark
Baker.
Locals have been calling for government
offi cials to build a tunnel for years,
but those plans faltered under the steep
costs.
The new recommendations come almost
a month after Mayor Bill de Blasio’s
expert panel released their report,
proposing the city reduce the six-lane
highway to four lanes and up enforcement
on oversize trucks.
Hizzoner quickly formed a truck enforcement
task force within the Police
Department, but was skeptical of narrowing
the road.
That report also warned that the triple
cantilever section could become unsafe
within fi ve years if offi cials don’t
take measures to reduce current traffi c
volumes.
Lawmakers are going to analyze the
report and hear testimony at a Tuesday
Council meeting on the roadway, which
is likely to include proposals by DOT
and the NYPD on how to make the highway
safer and preserve its structural integrity.
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