By Joseph Morales

   The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway(BQE) is one of the most critical vehicular transportation arteries in all of Brooklyn as well as the entire New York City Region. It is the only interstate highway in Brooklyn and it provides direct connections to Staten Island, Queens, The Bronx as well as Interstate 95 that travels towards Connecticut and other areas in the Northeast. The highway also provides connection to Brooklyn-Manhattan crossings, the Prospect Expressway, Belt Parkway and many other major Brooklyn streets and neighborhoods. According to the New York City Department of Transportation(NYCDOT), the highway typically serves more than 130,000 vehicles daily, 13,000 of which are trucks. 

                 While the BQE is considered to be a major transportation asset for many people traveling throughout the region, the highway does pose numerous challenges for residents of the surrounding communities. These issues include things like noise and air pollution that stem from the expressway’s extremely high traffic volumes. This can increase one’s risk of many negative health conditions such as asthma and hypertension. Also, among concerns are pedestrian safety conditions around highways due to high traffic volumes, visibility issues, as well as high speeds of vehicles when they drive around highways. Streets that are known for these concerns include Hamilton Avenue in Red Hook and 3rd Avenue in Sunset Park.

                 Aside from the highway’s impact on surrounding communities, the highway itself is aging and falling apart in some places such as its triple cantilever that runs 1.5 miles between Atlantic Avenue and Sands Street, It has been functioning for more than 20 years  past its intended lifespan. The situation is so dire that the city has warned that they would have to restrict trucks in this area by 2026. This is because the roadway is supported by steel rebars located on the inside of concrete. These steel rebars are corroding from road salt that has seeped in through cracks, which have widened from freezing, thawing and moisture. There have been many proposals to address the issue over the years to either rebuild, tear down or otherwise reinvent the highway in some way, shape or form.. In 2018, proposals from the NYCDOT have included closing the Brooklyn Promenade for Six Years to build a temporary highway and repair the rest of the triple cantilever or complete repairs lane by lane which would make the completion time for repairs uncertain, both options would cost billions of dollars. Many critics of these ideas felt that the state of the BQE should be used as an opportunity to envision a city with fewer cars and reduce congestion in the area. The City Council had proposed an $11 Billion plan to tear down the highway and replace it with a 3-mile long tunnel. Former City Comptroller and Mayoral Candidate Scott Stringer had proposed limiting the BQE from Atlantic Avenue to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel which includes the triple cantilever to trucks and turning the rest into a two-mile linear park. This would be done by only rehabilitating one level of the cantilever so that it could be used for truck-traffic only. Former Mayor Bill de Blasio as well as the Regional Plan Association(RPA) also had a 20-year plan and a report of recommendations respectively in regards to the BQE. 

                      After years of little action in such a dire situation, New York City Mayor and former Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is committing to rebuilding the BQE to match the needs of New Yorkers. This includes making use of billions of dollars in possible grants for infrastructure projects made available to cities through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed by President Biden in November 2021. He said in a quote on the BQE Vision website “No more kicking the can. We have once-in-a-generation access to federal infrastructure funds, and we will seize this opportunity to start rebuilding this vital transportation artery for a post-pandemic city and economy today.”  

                     To jumpstart the process, the city is launching a broad and unique community outreach program to ensure that everyone in the communities surrounding the BQE had the opportunity to be engaged in proposals in relation to and surrounding the BQE. The project is split into BQE Central, which is The triple cantilever between Atlantic Avenue and Sands Street that runs through Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn and BQE North and South comprises the rest of the expressway in Brooklyn. This is part of a four-stage process that includes design and implementation. On-going monitoring and repairs will occur as needed during all stages of the project. This includes the formation of a Community Visioning Council(CVC) in order to advise NYCDOT as well as its consultants on how to engage affected communities and meet consistently throughout the engagement process to discuss emerging concerns of the communities. Members of the CVC include members of groups that represent the diverse array of  interests communities along the BQE and its connecting highways have that are affected by the BQE redesign plan such as local Business Improvement Districts(BID), Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, Transportation Alternatives, NYCHA Red Hook East Tenant Association and more. These groups represent the needs of residents, commuters, business owners and more. 

                     The NYCDOT and its consulting team, composed of WSP USA Inc., WXY Architecture and Urban Design, and 3×3 are also forming a Community Partner Program in order to select community-based organizations to serve as community partners throughout the engagement process . These partners will consist of groups that have strong connections to their communities as well as experience in mobilizing their communities. These groups will be responsible for assisting the NYCDOT and its consulting team with leading educational and/or engagement activities that expand upon as well as run parallel to those being run by the NYCDOT. They will receive technical assistance from the NYCDOT as well as  its consultant team and their subconsultants in order to manage and operate these activities. These groups will be expected to prioritize equitable access to their engagement activities, coordinating with major stakeholders such as community boards and elected officials, grassroots spread of information and feedback. In addition, the groups will be responsible for providing support for those taking part in the engagement process such as childcare and transportation. They must work to engage those who speak languages other than English. The NYCDOT and its consulting team are prioritizing organizations that serve underserved communities as well as those who speak languages besides English. Though most of the current partners have government ties such as the New York State Department Of Transportation(NYSDOT) and the New York City Department of City Planning(DCP) though the deadline to apply to become a partner was last Monday and thus, more partners should begin engagement soon. 

                      There are different strategies for how the city will approach redesigning both BQE Central as well as BQE North and South. For BQE North and South, the city has broken down the types of projects that will take place on or around the BQE North and South into four categories, NYC DOT projects on City-Owned Streets, Other City-lead projects on City-owned streets, NYSDOT projects on the highway that require ongoing coordination with the state and a multi-agency effort to explore viable alternative routes for freight to reduce truck traffic. It is important to note that any projects on the BQE in the BQE North and South area would have to be worked on in coordination with the NYSDOT as those areas of the BQE are owned by the state. Some NYC DOT projects have already taken place or are proposed such as the Hamilton Ave & 3rd Ave Redesign, Safety and Exit Ramp Improvements at BQE Exit 31 and Wythe Ave and more.

BQE over the intersection of Hamilton Ave and Clinton St in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn.

Hamilton Avenue under BQE in Red Hook, Brooklyn

As for BQE Central, the city plans to take immediate action, move forward on long term fixes and capitalize on federal funding opportunities. These opportunities likely consist of grants that will only be available until 2026 form the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Interagency planning and implementation will also take place for the purposes of diverting trucks from local streets during any construction work. There will be three rounds of engagement for both BQE Central as well as BQE North and South. They will include determining community needs, receiving community feedback on initial proposals, as well as  community feedback on revised proposals. For the case of BQE Central, the last step of engagement will include preparing for what will likely be a federally mandated Environmental Review and for BQE North and South it will be releasing a Vision Plan and being prepared to plan and implement desired projects. After the Environmental Review, whatever project is proposed for BQE Central will likely require the city to publish a federally mandated Environmental Impact Statement(EIS) given the project’s scope and the fact that it will likely require federal funding. This will involve determining the scope of the project with community input , a draft EIS done by the NYCDOT, community input on the draft followed by the publishing of an EIS. 

BQE Triple Cantilever are seen from Joralemon St in the Brooklyn Heights section of Brooklyn.

Congestion on the BQE Triple Cantilever in Downtown Brooklyn on a Sunday Afternoon.

                       The NYCDOT has already seen a plethora of improvement ideas during the early stages of engagement. An NYCDOT update on Round 1 of engagement for BQE Central highlights things such as improving pedestrian and cyclist access to Brooklyn Bridge Park, reducing highway noise, improving the Atlantic Avenue underpass and its surrounding areas, growing and expanding local public space including parks, reducing pollution on the highway and so much more. As the future of one of New York City’s major highways is in limbo, one can only wonder what the future will bring for the busy Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

BQE in Carroll Gardens Trench in the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn.

Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Brooklyn.

          

Brooklyn-Queens Expressway near an interchange.

 

Works Cited 

               Hu, Winnie. “The B.Q.E. Is Crumbling. There’s Still No Plan to Fix It.” The New York Times, 13 June 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/13/nyregion/brooklyn-queens-expressway-construction-plan.html. Accessed 11 November 2022.

                Middleton, Tiffany. “What is an Environmental Impact Statement?” American Bar Association, 2 March 2021, https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/publications/teaching-legal-docs/teaching-legal-docs–what-is-an-environmental-impact-statement-/. Accessed 11 November 2022.

                Hu, Winnie. “The Famed Brooklyn Heights Promenade May Close for Years. Here’s Why. (Published 2018).” The New York Times, 4 October 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/04/nyregion/brooklyn-queens-expressway.html. Accessed 11 November 2022.

               New York City Department of Transportation. “NYC DOT – Current Projects.” NYC.gov, https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/about/current-projects.shtml#brooklyn. Accessed 11 November 2022.

               New York City Department of Transportation. “BQE Corridor-Wide Kick-Off.” BQE Vision, 28 September 2022, https://bqevision.com/sites/default/files/2022-09/bqe-corridor-wide-kick-off.pdf. Accessed 11 November 2022.

                 New York City Department of City Planning. “Red Hook Transportation Study.” NYC.gov, https://www.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/plans-studies/red-hook/full_report.pdf. Accessed 11 November 2022.

New York City Department of Transportation, and City of New York. BQE Corridor Vision | Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE), https://bqevision.com/. Accessed 11 November 2022.

“RPA | Reimagining the BQE.” Regional Plan Association, 9 April 2019, https://rpa.org/work/reports/reimagining-the-bqe. Accessed 11 November 2022.

“Mayor de Blasio Unveils Plan to Save and Reimagine the BQE.” NYC.gov, 4 August 2021, https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/545-21/mayor-de-blasio-plan-save-reimagine-bqe. Accessed 11 November 2022.

“Comptroller Stringer Proposes New Vision for BQE Reconstruction.” New York City Comptroller, 13 March 2019, https://comptroller.nyc.gov/newsroom/comptroller-stringer-proposes-new-vision-for-bqe-reconstruction/. Accessed 11 November 2022.