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The BQE Will Continue To Suck Pretty Much Forever
By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Nov 30, 2011
Modified Nov 30, 2011
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By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Nov 30, 2011
Modified Nov 30, 2011
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Bad news for anyone who commutes on four wheels, ever tries to get out of the city, or lives remotely near the highway: the BQE and the Gowanus expressway won't be getting better anytime soon. The city has just killed plans to revamp and repair major chunks of both expressways, citing, unsurprisingly, a lack of cash.
Transportation Department officials said yesterday that they were putting the kibosh on all sorts of plans for the BQE from Atlantic Avenue to Sands Street in Brooklyn Heights, and on the Gowanus Expressway from Sixth Avenue to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. The projects ranged in price from $280 million to $20 billion, but the DOT simply said that the highways “do not require major repairs at this time.” Oh, great, our transportation officials have apparently never driven on the city's major thoroughfares. So much for that highway silencer!
Concerned commuters and residents are also calling BS on the DOT: "We were told by the state that the BQE was in danger of collapsing in the 80s," said Cobble Hill activist Roy Sloane. "It’s also pathetic that they put all these years and effort in, spent money on all sorts of designs and are now dropping it." And who could forget the City Council member who declared that "Baghdad has better roads than Queens"? Screw this—we're moving to Iraq.
Tagged
bqe
department of transportation
dot
gowanus expressway
highway
repairs
road work
Jamie Feldmar
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