Public Meeting on BQE Reconstruction Next Tuesday Evening

By on October 25, 2016 11:16 pm in 11201, Brooklyn Heights, Streets, Traffic

The Brooklyn Heights Association notifies us that, next Tuesday evening, November 1, from 6:00 to 8:00, at the NYU Poly Tandon Auditorium on the ground floor of 5 MetroTech Center, the City Department of Transportation will hold a public information session on the planned rehabilitation of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, particularly the cantilevered portion that runs beneath the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and the foot of Grace Court.

The project is slated to begin construction in the early 2020s, but project design and its environmental analysis will be initiated soon. DOT will present an update and provide the public with an opportunity to ask questions.

Of particular concern to Heights residents will be the effect of the work on houses near the Promenade as well as the Promenade itself, and the increased traffic likely to to result from closure of the BQE, with Hicks, Henry, and Clinton streets all likely to bear the brunt of traffic diversion.

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  • Bongo

    Neither Hicks, Henry, or Clinton streets are capable of handling that volume of traffic.

  • Joe Dudas

    Truth. All 3 jam up during rush hour already. Should be an interesting meeting…

  • DIBS

    No, they are not. Jammed at times already.

  • Andrew Porter

    I think traffic should be redirected to Atlantic Ave., Boerum Place, Tillary and Adams. Maybe traffic bound for areas outside this one could be diverted entirely.

    Any hope of building a temporary diversion through the old docks has been closed off by the construction of Brooklyn Bridge Park.

    Here’s a map of the local area:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/095dcdc6ae6335ceac643c9bf1580155d9cc55a9fd32f33b7448af28770d1deb.jpg

  • Dalvec

    Agreed. Clinton has gotten louder and louder over the past few years with enormous trucks. Very unsafe for kids walking to school.

  • KXrVrii1

    And from this presentation, construction is expected take 5 years. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/bqe-atlantic-to-sands-apr2016.pdf

    Daily traffic in 2014 was over 140,000, trucks are 11% on average and as high as 17% during peak!

  • KXrVrii1

    I wonder how they would enforce that type of diversion. Eastbound, Atlantic passes by Hicks and Clinton anyway. Westbound, you could also continue on to Clinton.

    I guess they could block left turns off of Atlantic, but then people might just exit earlier and go up them anyway.

    Or maybe they ban trucks only, and then all the cars take hose routes.

  • bklyn84

    I’m very interested in hearing the DOT’s plans. There’s another moving part to the puzzle and that’s the downtown route of the BQX streetcar project.

    If the BQX is actually built, and on schedule, it should be near completion by the time the BQE traffic has to be rerouted.

    However, if the BQX is under construction, but delayed, then the downtown traffic puzzle is even more complicated. Atlantic, Boerum and/or Smith/Jay, Tillary and Adams will most certainly be involved in the downtown streetcar route.

    I’m a fan of the BQX—and live on Boerum Place—I hope the BQX is wrapped up so we get a bit of a break before the BQE project starts.

  • Jorale-man

    The DOT and police are usually very hands-off approach on matters of this sort and let drivers sort things out for themselves. Somehow I can’t see them restricting traffic up Clinton, which is already constantly gridlocked and a symphony of car horns.

    There is Furman Street, but then drivers will have to circle back up to the BQE entrance again. Interesting times ahead…

  • bklyn84

    Many thanks to Claude Scales for alerting us to this meeting!

    I think another issue will be quick access to health care in a major hospital.

    The DOT is going to have to explain how rerouting traffic around Brooklyn Heights and western downtown Brooklyn won’t “cut off” our neighborhoods from quick, perhaps life-saving, access to a major hospital like New York Methodist.