BQE Panel to Announce Recommendations to BHA, Other Community Groups Thursday

By on January 27, 2020 9:54 pm in 11201, BQE rehab, Brooklyn Heights

The Brooklyn Heights Association has announced that the Mayor’s panel to study the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway has finished its report and recommendations, and will brief the BHA and other interested community groups this Thursday evening, January 30. This is not a public event. According to the BHA:

We look forward to learning firsthand what conclusions the Panel has come to after these many months and are hopeful that the report will offer thousands of people all along the BQE corridor a forward-looking and transformative vision. You will hear from us again soon after we’ve met with the Panel and have assessed the report.

We will share with you the BHA’s report on the briefing, and the Panel’s conclusions and recommendations, as soon as they are available.

Share this Story:

,

  • Nomcebo Manzini

    What’cha’all predict? … Ok, I’ll go first. I have to think that the “trial balloon” leaks probably convinced the Mayor – who must have OK’d them – that “WE NEED ANOTHER PANEL” would make him even more of a laughingstock than last year’s shot at the Presidency did.

    So, I’m guessing he “asked” Carl, “Can’t you get a majority behind ANY genuine path forward?”

    And I’m guessing that that will lead to an announcement in a few days that they’re going with DOT’s “Plan B” – mostly, leave the promenade functioning and follow the subway model of “the worst stuff will happen on weekends,” and in “approximately 10 years,” some future Mayor will be able to say, “We got it done!”

    But since that’s SO AWFUL a “solution” – worse than bad for cars and trucks and bad for the Heights, because Clinton and Court Streets are even less viable fill-ins than the promenade!…

    and since the next mayoral election isn’t *that* far off, I predict a “Mitch McConnell/ Merrick Garland” ending – “Let NYC’s voters choose the man or woman who’ll make this tough call.”

  • CHatter

    I predict they will recommend temporary immediate fixes (additional supports, repaving over potholes) to shore up the most critical structural issues, in order to give a newly-established panel with a broader mandate time to consider the future of a longer stretch of the BQE (say from the Tillary St exit to the Battery Tunnel). And also maybe reduce lane traffic at night to 2 lanes. And also maybe tolls on the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.

  • Jorale-man

    That seems like the scope of their collective thinking at the moment. I can’t see them endorsing one of the park-level/tunnel proposals at this stage.

  • Eddyde

    Hopefully they will recommend the tunnel that bypasses the hole shebang, allowing the cantilever to be repurposed as an extension of the park, without the conflicts with existing infrastructure. But that would make sense and unfortunately, not much sense is being made in the de blasé-o administration.

  • Daddyo

    I predict a massive six-lane bouncy bridge over the BBP berms, with traffic restricted to trucks and rideshare vehicles. Tourists will be charged a fee to access the Esplanade to recoup the cost of the bouncy bridge. (Bouncy bridge as likely as a tunnel, methinks!)

  • Remsen Street Dweller

    I predict that the BQE will be run through my ground floor living room temporarily during the fixing stage (provided my co-op votes to allow it). If so, I will be selling coffee and light breakfast and other items to drivers.

  • Reggie

    Large light and sweet, please. What the heck, Give me a cheese danish too.

  • Remsen Street Dweller

    You got it!

  • Nomcebo Manzini

    THE PANEL HAS REPORTED! News stories are on NYT and WSJ as of 6 PM Thurs. Short version – panel recommends reducing traffic to 2 lanes in each direction … and enforcing prohibition against heavy trucks. And yes, they say that the whole 20 miles needs a re-think.