Brooklyn officials sent a letter on Tuesday to U.S. Department of Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg, urging him to limit the planned reconstruction of the BQE to four traffic lanes, two in each direction. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle
More than a dozen Brooklyn officials representing neighborhoods along the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway sent a letter on Tuesday to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, urging him to limit the planned reconstruction of the BQE to four traffic lanes (two in each direction).
New York City’s Department of Transportation, which has responsibility for the crumbling 1.5-mile-long BQE Central portion (which includes the Triple Cantilever underpinning the Brooklyn Heights Promenade), has not been clear about whether it plans to replace this portion of the highway with four traffic lanes or the original six constructed by Robert Moses in 1954.
“We are writing to urge the USDOT to support maintaining the highway at two lanes of car and truck vehicular traffic in each direction. Widening highways in public-transit rich New York City is in direct conflict with our shared public health, safety, and climate goals,” the officials wrote.
In 2021, DOT reduced the number of traffic lanes on the Triple Cantilever from three to two in each direction to extend the lifespan of the deteriorating highway. This “generated immediate and significant safety improvements,” the officials noted.
Limiting the number of lanes would line up with the goals of President Joe Biden’s groundbreaking Bipartisan Infrastructure bill, a long-term investment in infrastructure which aims to make the U.S. economy more “sustainable, resilient and just.”
The BQE’s viaducts and trenches cut through a number low-income and working-class neighborhoods where the majority of residents have historically been people of color. These residents have suffered from high rates of asthma and pulmonary-related disorders from “significant…
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