BQE Vibrations Affect North Heights Residents

By on September 10, 2019 10:22 pm in 11201, BQE rehab, Brooklyn Heights, Environment

Scott Enman in the Eagle reports that residents of the North Heights, particularly at the north end of Willow Street, near where the Brooklyn Queens Expressway curves, are frequently disturbed by strong vibrations that disturb their sleep. These often happen in the early morning and late evening when traffic on the BQE isn’t backed up, and trucks can pass at speed.

While this affects only a small portion of Heights residents, consider that some of the houses in this area are of historic value, and could be affected structurally by continued exposure to these vibrations. Moreover, any work to renovate the cantilevered BQE in place is likely to increase these vibrations greatly, and expand the area affected by them to the length of Brooklyn Heights.

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  • Jorale-man

    It’s odd, they repaved the cantilevered portion of the BQE just a couple years ago but one can clearly hear trucks hitting potholes or other imperfections in the roadway on a steady basis. Granted, there are some structural issues going on here too, but it makes you wonder about the effectiveness of the city’s resurfacing efforts.

  • gc

    Something else I’ve noticed lately is the dramatic increase in noise coming from motorcycles or souped up cars going along the BQE. I get the feeling that, along with the sporadic car or motorcycle, there may be one or two jerks who get a kick out of making a racket on a more regular basis. It is really loud if you’re on the Promenade when they go by.

  • CassieVonMontague

    A friend who lives on the east side of Columbia Heights between clark and pierrepont can feel BQE vibrations in her building. She says you can mostly feel it in the early morning and late night when there’s no traffic and the trucks can go full speed. The BQE is a nuisance.

  • http://www.yotamzohar.com StudioBrooklyn

    Those jerks derive just as much pleasure from showing off the disconnect between their mufflers and catalytic converters on local streets as on the BQE.

    My takeaway is that those $37 inspections the rest of us need to have every year are meaningless if cars that would fail are allowed on the streets, especially when they are actually retro-engineered to make more noise than originally designed.

  • KXrVrii1

    They probably re-enable the normal systems during inspection. And as for cops, a lot harder to ticket for excessive noise than many other infractions.

    I had a motorcycle for years, but still never bought into the “Loud Pipes Save Lives” BS (which was more typical in my time of Harley type riders.)

  • Nomcebo Manzini

    But is it in that nastiest “can’t live with it, can’t live without it” category?

  • GHNY

    do you feel the bumps in your home? leave a review on gohomeny.com and let others know!

  • Andrew Porter

    What happens is the bouncing of the trucks forms dips and crests—like a washboard—that only makes things worse.