New York City officials announced a $4 billion plan to rebuild a section of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway on Aug. 24.<\/p>\n
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Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn announced the plan for the city-owned section of the BQE, stretching 1.5 miles between Atlantic Avenue and Sands Street.<\/p>\n
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\u201cFor decades, prior administrations have failed to deliver urgent long-term repairs to BQE Central \u2014 but we can no longer afford to wait for the perfect solution,\u201d Mamdani said<\/a>. \u201cThe cost of inaction is too high, and the risks to New Yorkers are too important to delay any longer.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTime is up,\u201d Flynn said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cAfter decades of kicking the can down the road and indecision that failed to yield substantial results, we will act with urgency to rehabilitate the city\u2019s portion of the BQE.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The BQE opened in 1957 and was designed by Robert Moses to last about 50 years.<\/p>\n The design is now 20 years past its planned lifespan and carries around 130,000 vehicles every day, more than twice the traffic it was designed for.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The $4 billion project is expected to begin in 2030 and take 10 years to complete, extending the BQE\u2019s life by about 40 years. The main focus of the project is the triple cantilever, where multiple levels of highway are stacked along the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n To keep the heavy traffic moving during construction, the city plans<\/a> to build temporary bypasses rather than completely shutting down the highway.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to fix the aging concrete, repair the deteriorating triple cantilever and build temporary roads that keep the highway operable during construction to avoid sending tens of thousands of cars and trucks onto local streets,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cThis plan allows us to safely fix the BQE without slowing our city down or wasting decades more on magical thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A two-level bypass would be constructed in both directions between Atlantic Avenue and Columbia Heights. The bypasses will run above Furman Street and below the promenade, carrying traffic over the Brooklyn Bridge approach to the Manhattan Bridge.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPortions [of the promenade] will be closed at various points,\u201d Nick Benson, a spokesperson for NYCDOT said<\/a>. \u201cWork has to be done on the promenade itself, so it\u2019s unavoidable. But, every effort will be made to do it in phases so that there is always some level of access to the promenade.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Local elected officials have expressed their enthusiasm for the proposal but also raise concerns about the impact on the community during construction.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n