New York, NY – The state is looking to renovate the section of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway major near Brooklyn Heights over the next 10 years, but locals are concerned about the construction’s impact.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway was state of the art some 50 years ago. Yet while there have been capital improvements over the years the structure is starting to feel its age.
“The structure itself represents the design features of 50 years ago, which means there are really no shoulders,” said Peter King of the State Department of Transportation.
“The acceleration and deceleration for the entrances and exits are extremely inadequate.”
The state DOT recently completed an in-depth inspection of a stretch of the BQE from Atlantic Avenue to Sands Street, and found that while the structure is sound, it is due for an upgrade.
Its findings show there are 10 times more accidents here than the statewide average for a comparable interstate highway.
“We want modern pavements, a more modern alignment to the extent that we can get it. Those features all help the motorist to drive more safely,” said King.
The DOT is getting ready to start the public review process so it can rehabilitate the highway.
It will be an extensive project, one that’s expected to take nearly 10 years to complete, which causes concern for residents of the adjacent neighborhoods like the historic district of Brooklyn Heights.
“We’re really really worried about what the impact of the rehabilitation years is going to be on our local streets,” said Judy Stanton of the Brooklyn Heights Association.
Motorists already take to the local streets when the BQE gets backed up, but the impact of a such a major construction project could likely be worse.
“Houses will crack. I mean, foundations will suffer,” said Stanton. “These little streets cannot accommodate those big trucks.”
Still, the Brooklyn Heights Association says it is in favor of the project because of the roadway’s deteriorating condition.
The crumbling part of the BQE is one of the last remaining parts yet to be redone on the highway, which stretches from Astoria, Queens to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. But it is also the most challenging, given its multiple levels and proximity to historically-significant neighborhoods and the burgeoning Brooklyn Bridge Park.
The first public hearing on this project will be held on Monday, June 22 in the auditorium at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University at 5 Metrotech Center, Brooklyn. The hearing’s two different sessions will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. and from 7 to 10 p.m.
Oh vei – this means another 10 years of traffic on the bqe..
For the last 25 years there is construction going on on the gowanus expwy it did not help a thing and they never finished just give it up.
Let them build a new highway on the water
robert moses originally planned a major highway that would follow the (now abandoned) rail line through the heart of bklyn (can be seen next to the lubavitch yeshiva on ocean pkwy). without it, or something similar, we are locked into the overcrowded and dilapidated BQE and Belt. something has got to give
And just last week we joked how the BQE was finished with it’s construction from brooklyn to queens after 50 years of work and now this? Oh my!
The worst stretch of the entire bqe is the Atlantic Ave exit. There is an average of 15 accidents at Atlantic Ave and it got to the point where the city has a truck at location just waiting for the next accident cleanup!
Tell me you guys still use that highway I thought everyone got smarter!!!!
Why don’t they build double decker roads?
I dont know what to tell these people who live near the highway and whom I would imagine KNEW the highway was there before they bought property in the area. I feel bad for them however this is work that MUST be done.
I also recall reading about the cross brooklyn highway a number of years ago and it intrigued me as I lived on 50th street near the right of way. I have been to Detroit where the highway cuts right thru the area and from what I have seen, it isnt as bad as my elterin were afraid it would be when the idea was frist brought up in the 50s or 60s. They are able to build the highway in such a way that it would keep the neighborhoods above in tact. For the most part unless you are really looking, you dont even see it and you heardly hear it.
I didnt realize they still use the rail line there as much as someone above me claimed they do. As a kid I remember a smattering of trains going by there a month. I have some recollections of LIRR passenger trains passing thru there (pulled by a locomotive) as well, probably from NY Harbor to the LIRR line on the other end.
#17 – those were probably troop trains. Full passenger service on the branch stopped in 1927, and there was “boat train” service (trains coming in from Chicago were taken all the way to Bay Ridge to meet some transatlantic boats that docked there) as late as ’40 or ’41, but after that, it was strictly troop trains. The most famous passenger of those trains, incidentally, was none other than Elvis Presley.