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Brooklyn politicians call for patch job on BQE, say Mayor Adams can't do permanent fix
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Stephen Nessen
Published Dec 10, 2024
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By
Stephen Nessen
Published Dec 10, 2024
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A group of Brooklyn elected officials wrote in a letter on Monday that they’ve given up hope Mayor Eric Adams will be able to fix the crumbling triple-cantilever section of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and called on the city to make short-term fixes to keep the structure from falling down.
“While the current mayoral administration has been pursuing a long-term fix for the BQE triple cantilever, it is no longer clear that the approval and implementation of this path will occur before the useful life of the Cantilever expires,” said the letter, which was signed by Brooklyn Councilmember Lincoln Restler, State Sen. Andrew Gounardes, Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon and U.S. Reps. Nydia Velázquez and Dan Goldman.
City engineers have for years warned the section of the highway tucked beneath the Brooklyn Heights Promenade is deteriorating. Plans to rebuild the section have since 2019 been either shot down by community opposition or floundered in bureaucratic limbo.
City officials earlier this year said their latest plan to reconstruct the roadway would not break ground until 2029.
The letter requests the mayor’s office and the city transportation department create a “new stabilization plan to preserve the safety and integrity of the Triple Cantilever for, at minimum, the next 15 to 20 years.”
The letter acknowledges the city DOT has already undertaken some short-term repairs on the roadway. Officials also removed a lane of traffic in each direction along the highway and installed sensors that automatically ticket overweight trucks.
Still, the lawmakers warned those solutions wouldn't keep the BQE standing indefinitely.
“We do not know when it will no longer be safe for cars and trucks to ride on the BQE Triple Cantilever,” the officials wrote.
A long term fix for the roadway continues to vex city officials, who still have no clear path forward to rebuild the section of the BQE that dates back to the 1940s.
Former Mayor de Blasio in 2018 pitched the construction of a temporary highway atop the Brooklyn Heights Promenade during the reconstruction of the triple-cantilever. But that proposal sparked intense pushback from community members and was later shelved.
Since taking office in 2022, Adams has proposed a series of replacements for the highway, although they are still in the early planning stages. The federal government has already rejected an $800 million planning grant request from the Adams administration for redesigning the section of the BQE.
"As we enter the next stage of project review with our federal and state partners we will consider a wide range of strategies —including a partial or full replacement of the triple cantilever, the preservation of the existing structure, maintenance of the existing structure, and other alternatives," DOT spokesperson Vin Barone said in a statement.
Restler said he fears that any new plan will require city, state and federal funds — and that he doesn’t have much hope the incoming Trump administration would be willing to fund the project.
“We want alternatives,” Restler said. “We want to consider a short-term stabilization plan that will preserve and protect our community and this structure. While we work on longer term, more ambitious proposals, it can't just be the Adams plan or bust.”
Tiffany Ann Taylor, vice president for transportation at the Regional Plan Association, said the city and elected officials should move quickly rebuilding the roadway instead of ordering the type of patch job requested through the letter..
“It kicks the proverbial can down the road to the future that could look like the one we find ourselves in now,” she wrote in an emailed statement.
The letter comes as the DOT has three events scheduled this week to ask for community input on the future of the BQE.
Tagged
new york city
Politics
transportation
brooklyn
Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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