COURIER L 6 IFE, JULY 12-18, 2019 PS
City’s BQE proposals
likely to be axed
IN QUESTION: The city’s controversial plans to rebuild the Brooklyn-Queens
Expressway bit-by-bit or construct a six-lane highway on top of the Brooklyn Heights
Promenade may be scrapped, according to an expert panel convened by Mayor Bill
de Blasio. Photo by Kevin Duggan
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Two of the most controversial
schemes to repair the Brooklyn-
Queens Expressway will likely
be tossed, according to the head
of an expert panel overseeing the
project.
A 16-person panel Mayor Bill de
Blasio convened to study the repairs
of the roadway’s crumbling triplecantilever
told local stakeholders
and elected officials in June that
the Department of Transportation’s
plans had little chance, and that
the agency should explore other
proposals.
“There may be a need for a
temporary alternative route
during what could be a six to tenyear
construction period, but the
alternatives proposed by the city
Department of Transportation
present very serious issues with
very little chance of being approved;
other alternatives should be
explored,” the presentation reads .
Local residents and several
pols came out against the agency’s
proposals from last September to
either rebuild the stretch of roadway
between Atlantic Avenue and Sands
Street bit by bit, or construct a sixlane
highway on top of the beloved
Brooklyn Heights Promenade
during the reconstruction, which
could last up to a decade, according
to the department.
De Blasio announced the
formation of his BQE panel in
April , and the experts have spent
the last few months gathering input
from city agencies and community
organizations, and is expected
formulate its recommendation this
fall.
The Robert Moses-designed
highway fi rst opened in 1948, and
surpassed its intended 50 year lifespan
in 2008. The city’s timeline now is to
start rerouting trucks in 2026, with
a plan to shut it down completely by
2036 — 28 years after the roadway’s
planned retirement date.
The BQE brain trust — which
is chaired by Carlo Scissura, chief
of the building industry advocacy
group the New York Building
Congress and previous head of
the business advocacy group the
Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce
— expressed misgivings about
how DOT’s proposed temporary
highway would intrude on the
Brooklyn Heights Promenade, a
popular walkway that sits atop the
highway’s cantilevered section,
as well as the adjacent Brooklyn
Bridge Park.
“The commission has serious
concerns about the proposed
highway and encroachment on the
Promenade (other than to renovate
and upgrade the promenade) or
major incursion into the Brooklyn
Bridge Park with a temporary
highway,” the presentation read.
The panel also noted
opportunities to reduce future
planned highways from six to four
lanes, including instituting a twoway
toll on the Verrazzano-Narrows
Bridge, the congestion pricing
tax set to hit drivers heading into
Manhattan in 2021, and adding
high-occupancy vehicle lanes,
which require motorists have at
least one passenger to travel in.
The BQE panel has held 10
meetings since April and will now
draft its recommendations. Its
members would also like to meet
with the community again before
it issues its report, its presentation
said.