Aging BQE getting $4 billion restoration, Mayor Mamdani announces
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled a $4 billion plan to repair the city-owned section of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
About 130,000 vehicles use the section every day, which is 20 years past its design life. Improvements would include repairing the aging triple cantilever and fixing drainage, railings and lighting.
Once it's done, it will extend the life of that part of the BQE for another 40 years.
The city's plan is calling for temporary bypasses to keep traffic moving while crews get to work. There would be a two-level bypass along Furman Street, below the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, running from Atlantic Avenue to Columbia Heights.
Another elevated bypass would run from Columbia Heights, over the Brooklyn Bridge approach toward the Manhattan Bridge.
City officials want to keep the highway open to prevent major traffic, including 13,000 daily truck trips, from ending up on local Brooklyn streets.
"We can't wait any longer. We're done kicking the can down the road," Mamdani said in a video announcement.
Every year of inaction costs the city $160 million and threatens highway closures, according to a news release.
The bypasses are a long-term fix that will come with long-term construction.
"This plan allows us to safely fix the BQE without slowing our city down or wasting decades more on magical thinking. The cost of inaction is too high, and the risks to New Yorkers are too important to delay any longer," Mamdani said in a statement.
The city expects construction to start in 2030 and take about 10 years to finish.
