New York City transportation officials on Thursday unveiled a new vision to fix a defective section of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway — and said they plan to push back the long-planned rebuild until at least 2029.
The latest plan by the Department of Transportation to overhaul the highway’s triple-cantilever structure tucked beneath the Brooklyn Heights Promenade would stack traffic lanes directly on top of each other. It’s one of three recent proposals released by the department. The others include an option to hide the roadway by extending Brooklyn Bridge Park to the east.
The construction outline released on Thursday would be 20% wider than the current roadway, which city officials said is required by federal standards. But officials did not immediately explain how they’d complete the project without disrupting traffic or closing the promenade above.
In 2018, the DOT proposed closing the promenade and building a temporary highway atop it while they fixed the triple-cantilever, which was built in the 1940s by the infamous New York power broker Robert Moses. But the department shelved the plan in 2019 after Brooklyn Heights residents rallied to save the promenade.
Officials previously warned that the structure could fail by 2026, but the DOT extended the expected lifespan in 2021 by reducing the number of traffic lanes on that stretch of the BQE from three to two.
Sam Schwartz, a traffic analyst and former city traffic commissioner, said the idea to narrowly stack the roadway is a bright idea.
“I think this is a smart alternative,” said Schwartz, who reviewed the plans. “Stacking one road above the other, my initial reaction is, how come Robert Moses didn’t think of it?”
Another rendering of the latest design meant to replace the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway's troubled Brooklyn Heights section.
Officials said their latest idea would cost $5 billion and would take another five years to get approval from the federal government to begin construction. The five-year timeline is the latest delay in a project that’s become a source of consternation for drivers and government officials alike.
DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said he’s still not sure if the city will move forward with the latest pitch or choose another one the department presented in the past.
“These decisions are made after the environmental study,” he told reporters at a briefing about the project. “So the designing team that will do the work, the agency will continue taking the input from the community, but those decisions have to be discussed as part of the environmental study at the end of the process.”
Schwartz said he expects that even if construction begins in 2029, it would take at least four years to complete the project.
“The triple cantilever isn't getting any younger and it’s crumbling as we speak,” he said of the ailing structure. “I have little doubt there will be emergency repairs between now and 2029 when they start construction.”
The city is hosting an open house on Thursday night and a virtual open house on Monday to review the new plans and timeline.
