{"id":407218,"date":"2025-11-27T01:03:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T01:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/407218\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T01:03:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T01:03:13","slug":"new-yorks-bqe-is-falling-apart-the-city-cant-agree-on-how-to-fix-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/407218\/","title":{"rendered":"New York\u2019s BQE Is Falling Apart. The City Can\u2019t Agree on How to Fix It."},"content":{"rendered":"

The triple cantilever runs along the edge of Brooklyn Heights, a wealthy and politically connected neighborhood. It stands as a symbol of resistance to Robert Moses, the power broker who rammed highways<\/a> through communities.<\/p>\n

When Mr. Moses tried that approach here in the 1940s, Brooklyn Heights residents pushed back, and Mr. Moses rerouted the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway around them.<\/p>\n

At the top sits the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, a cherished landmark with skyline views where generations of New Yorkers have come for their first date.<\/p>\n

Below, two levels of traffic jut out like drawers pulled from a dresser. The highway is the main artery between Brooklyn and Queens, and it is part of Interstate 278, the only road that connects New York\u2019s five boroughs.<\/p>\n

The cantilever, which opened in 1954, was designed to be used for 50 years<\/a>. The risks only go up as it continues to deteriorate year after year, even as its life span has been extended with interim measures. While city officials and transportation engineers say imminent collapse is not a threat, other catastrophes could still strike, like concrete falling off and hitting vehicles.<\/p>\n

Since 2018, two New York City mayors \u2014 Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams \u2014 have announced that they would fix this vital artery. But both administrations were unprepared for the ferocious community opposition to their ideas on how to proceed. Both struggled to build any consensus at all as local residents countered with their own ideas. The endless back and forth led to more delays and inertia.<\/p>\n

Traffic on the triple cantilever passes through Brooklyn Heights.<\/p>\n

Erin Schaff\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

The standoff over the B.Q.E. has become, more broadly, a symbol of the power that local communities wield over critical infrastructure projects around the nation.<\/p>\n

Though community opposition is hardly new, it is thriving today as residents have become more nimble and sophisticated at influencing projects, or halting them entirely. They strategize about just who to target with their ads and protests, assemble technical experts and consultants to argue on their behalf, and extend their reach with email blasts, online petitions and social media.<\/p>\n

In Los Angeles, a plan to widen the 710 Freeway, one of the nation\u2019s busiest freight corridors, was canceled in 2022<\/a> amid community opposition. A major street improvement<\/a> project in Detroit was paused last summer, in part over the public\u2019s concerns about its design, while state officials took another approach<\/a>. And a Buffalo project championed<\/a> by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to reconnect communities<\/a> divided by a highway stalled<\/a> recently after a state court ruled<\/a> in favor of critics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This community pushback is often characterized as NIMBYism \u2014 the \u201cnot in my backyard\u201d impediment to change \u2014 but the reality is more nuanced. Many Brooklyn residents say they are not against improving the B.Q.E., and, in fact, are fighting for a better future with less traffic and more space for people.<\/p>\n

But now, time is running out for the triple cantilever.<\/p>\n

A highway in decay<\/p>\n

The cantilever structure anchors a 1.5-mile stretch from Atlantic Avenue to Sands Street that is owned by the city. The rest of the 16-mile highway belongs to the state.<\/p>\n

Source: OpenStreetMaps.<\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/p>\n

Even before the latest effort, state transportation officials had sought to rehabilitate the cantilever section in 2006. They dropped the project in 2011<\/a>, citing fiscal concerns and other priorities. That left the problem to the city.<\/p>\n

The triple cantilever was increasingly flagged for potential safety hazards, said Bojidar Yanev<\/a>, a former city transportation official who oversaw inspections from 1989 to 2018. \u201cThe structure was unraveling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Since at least 1996, the city has fastened metal mesh sheets to the underside of the roadway, particularly below joints, as a stop-gap measure to hold crumbling concrete in place and prevent accidents.<\/p>\n

Photo by Helmuth Rosales\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

The growing areas protected by the mesh sheets became the most visible sign of the triple cantilever\u2019s decay. It was not easy to inspect the internal structure, which was enclosed in concrete like a catacomb, Dr. Yanev said.<\/p>\n

Inspectors cut openings into the walls of the cantilever in 2016, finding that water and road salt had penetrated the structure at the joints. This caused the steel rebars in the concrete to corrode and expand, forcing chunks of concrete to fall off. Without major structural intervention, this degradation progressively weakens the triple cantilever\u2019s strength.<\/p>\n

In September, Times reporters captured video of the undersides of the triple cantilever to understand the structure\u2019s current state.<\/p>\n

Analysis of the footage revealed hundreds of steel mesh sheets placed along the structure\u2019s undersides, including at the cantilever\u2019s deteriorated joints, to hold the concrete in place.<\/p>\n

Note: Locations of steel mesh sheets are based on videos captured in September by The Times of the triple cantilever\u2019s undersides.<\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/p>\n

City officials say the triple cantilever is safe until at least 2029, with current protective measures. They closely monitor the structure and have taken steps to stabilize it, including making repairs and installing sensors to ticket overweight trucks. After that time, the city may have to further restrict traffic to reduce weight on the cantilever.<\/p>\n

First wave of ideas<\/p>\n

Mayor de Blasio\u2019s administration presented two options in 2018 to rebuild the cantilever, touching off the fiercest battle<\/a> over the B.Q.E. since it was built.<\/p>\n

Polly Trottenberg, then the city transportation commissioner, told residents in Brooklyn at the time that \u201cnone of the options are going to be very lovable, and that\u2019s the challenge we face.\u201d<\/p>\n

One option would rebuild the highway lane by lane and reroute traffic around the construction. The more controversial proposal, favored by the city, would erect a temporary six-lane highway over the promenade while the lower decks were rebuilt.<\/p>\n

Both options would mean losing access to the promenade for years, but the temporary highway would also bring traffic, noise and pollution right to the doors of Brooklyn Heights.<\/p>\n

City\u2019s idea:<\/strong> Temporary highway<\/p>\n

Existing Concept<\/p>\n

Furious residents rallied to save the promenade. They raised tens of thousands of dollars<\/a> to fund their campaign, hired public relations and lobbying consultants, and started a petition<\/a> that garnered more than 70,000 signatures.<\/p>\n

Of course, the promenade itself was born from an earlier fight with Mr. Moses. In 1942, the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper learned that a new highway could cut through the neighborhood and warned: \u201cPlan for Express Highway Through Heights Is Shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Residents demanded that it be pushed toward the industrial waterfront and suggested building a \u201cdouble-decker highway\u201d to take up a smaller footprint, and a roof to cover the noise and fumes \u2014 which became the promenade.<\/p>\n

Mr. Moses later wrote that \u201cthe two shelves of the cantilevers carrying commercial traffic and the overhanging cantilever roof for the promenade and park were designed for the greatest benefit to the Heights.\u201d<\/p>\n

A view of the promenade then and now.<\/p>\n

The New York Times archives (left); Bedel Saget\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

This time, many Brooklyn residents, as well as architects and urban planners, looked to places like San Francisco<\/a>, Seattle<\/a> and Rochester<\/a>, N.Y., that have torn down or repurposed highways to reconnect neighbors and create more housing, parks and transit.<\/p>\n

Two alternatives to the city\u2019s ideas illustrate how Brooklyn residents see this as an opportunity to make radical changes that would benefit their neighborhoods and the city.<\/p>\n

Mark R. Baker, a lawyer, businessman and parks activist, proposed in 2019 to move all the traffic to street level and enclose it in a ventilated tunnel. The cantilever would become a three-level park, called the \u201cTri-Line,\u201d similar to Manhattan\u2019s High Line.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to protect the promenade, which is one of the most spectacular open spaces in New York City or the world, really,\u201d Mr. Baker said.<\/p>\n

Alternative idea:<\/strong> The \u2018Tri-Line\u2019<\/p>\n

Existing Concept<\/p>\n

Roy Sloane, a graphic artist and advertising executive, advocated for his earlier idea<\/a> from 2010 for a tunnel, which would help divert traffic away from the cantilever section.<\/p>\n

The \u201cCross Downtown Brooklyn Tunnel\u201d \u2014 which would become the new alignment for Interstate 278 \u2014 would alleviate the traffic and pollution that spills off the B.Q.E. onto streets in the area. The triple cantilever could then be rehabilitated for cars and light trucks going between neighborhoods, and, with less traffic, nearby sections of the highway could also be turned into boulevards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough traffic is the issue for the residential neighborhoods that are parallel to the B.Q.E.,\u201d Mr. Sloane said.<\/p>\n

Alternative idea:<\/strong> The tunnel<\/p>\n

Existing Concept<\/p>\n

Other notable concepts included one by Bjarke Ingels Group<\/a> to transform the triple cantilever into \u201cBQ-Park,\u201d a grander version of Mr. Baker\u2019s Tri-Line. The City Council, working with Arup<\/a>, an engineering firm, floated an idea to demolish the triple cantilever and replace it with a <\/a>three-mile bypass tunnel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After hearing from residents, Scott Stringer, then the city comptroller in 2019, <\/a>jumped in with a proposal<\/a> to limit the cantilever to trucks, while adding bus and bike lanes and a park.<\/p>\n

City officials promised to consider all these ideas. Mr. de Blasio, a former Brooklyn councilman with deep ties to the borough, convened a panel of experts to study the B.Q.E.<\/p>\n

The panel reported<\/a> in January 2020 that the cantilever was in worse shape than believed and called for safety measures, including removing two of the six traffic lanes to reduce vehicle weight.<\/p>\n

The steel and concrete triple cantilever has deteriorated over the years, and various ideas to renovate or overhaul it have failed to gain traction.<\/p>\n

Haiyun Jiang\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

Carlo A. Scissura, who led the panel, said the city was not ready to choose among the various concepts without more comprehensive engineering studies. \u201cIt would have just been like, \u2018Oh, this looks beautiful, let\u2019s just do it,\u2019\u2009\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When the coronavirus gripped New York in March 2020, resources shifted to the health crisis, and the momentum to fix the B.Q.E. was lost.<\/p>\n

Shortly before leaving office, Mr. de Blasio said the city would postpone a permanent solution and instead spend more than $500 million to <\/a>shore up the B.Q.E. for 20 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Second wave of ideas<\/p>\n

After Mr. Adams became mayor in 2022, he decided the B.Q.E. could no longer wait<\/a>. He hoped to tap into federal infrastructure funds unlocked by the Biden administration and start construction within five years.<\/p>\n

Mr. Adams had opposed<\/a> the city\u2019s temporary highway idea in 2019 as Brooklyn borough president. And his new administration presented <\/a>three new concepts<\/a> \u2014 \u201cThe Stoop,\u201d \u201cThe Terraces\u201d and \u201cThe Lookout\u201d \u2014 that shifted the focus to open space.<\/p>\n

The Stoop grew out of community interest in BQ-Park, the idea proposed by Bjarke Ingels Group in 2019. City officials hired the firm to help pressure test BQ-Park, only to find that it could not be built because of infrastructure constraints. The Stoop was developed as an alternative concept, but was later shelved amid criticism from residents about the design.<\/p>\n

City\u2019s idea:<\/strong> The Stoop<\/p>\n

Existing Concept<\/p>\n

Vishaan Chakrabarti<\/a>, an architect and urbanist, said that many of the visions for the B.Q.E. did not fully consider engineering and cost constraints. \u201cCommunities get enamoured with ideas that aren\u2019t viable, and then they start thinking worse of the ideas that are viable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

City officials said the B.Q.E. was an important economic artery, and that without it, trucks would jam nearby streets. They tried to strike a balance between a safe, modern highway and quality-of-life concerns, they said.<\/p>\n

Since 2022, they have held 30 public meetings about the B.Q.E. In response to feedback, they committed to a plan that would not impact the promenade or Brooklyn Bridge Park, or require taking private property. They helped secure a $5.6 million federal grant<\/a> to improve neighborhoods along the state-owned sections.<\/p>\n

Still, many Brooklyn residents complained about a lack of transparency. They said many of their questions were not fully answered and their suggestions went nowhere.<\/p>\n

As public discussion evolved over the years, three broad groups of stakeholders emerged: neighbors, dreamers and pragmatists.<\/p>\n

The neighbors saw an opportunity to improve public transit and to reduce the impact of traffic on their health, safety and climate. The dreamers went further and envisioned tearing down the highway<\/a> for more housing, businesses and parks, and shifting to more sustainable ways to move people and freight. The pragmatists focused on maintaining a vital traffic corridor that would still be needed in the future and fixing a cantilever that had become a safety hazard as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

Three broad groups of stakeholders of the B.Q.E. project are neighbors, dreamers and pragmatists \u2014 each with its own vision for the future of the expressway.<\/p>\n

Bedel Saget \/ The New York Times<\/p>\n

A leading voice of the neighbors was Lara Birnback, the executive director of the Brooklyn Heights Association, who said the city should develop \u201ca more holistic, forward-thinking solution.\u201d The association, which is part of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway-Environmental Justice Coalition<\/a>, has called for a corridorwide plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur perspective at this point is, let\u2019s not spend billions and billions of dollars cementing the status quo, no pun intended, by shoring up the cantilever for 100 years,\u201d Ms. Birnback said.<\/p>\n

In the dreamer camp was the Institute for Public Architecture<\/a>, which highlighted the harmful legacy of the B.Q.E. through community meetings, an oral history project and a documentary by Adam Paul Susaneck<\/a>, an urban planner. The dreamers asked: What would a future without the B.Q.E. look like?<\/p>\n

Antonio Reynoso, the Brooklyn borough president, said he saw a future with more freight moving on the waterways and less reliance on polluting highways like the B.Q.E. He told city transportation officials that he would like them to explore the option of tearing down the cantilever. But he said that option was never presented in community meetings.<\/p>\n

Aerial photo by Vincent Alban \/ The New York Times<\/p>\n

Pragmatists like Samuel I. Schwartz<\/a>, a former chief engineer for the city Transportation Department who established a transportation research program<\/a> at Hunter College, urged city officials to immediately fix the cantilever and leave amenities like parks to be added later. He pointed to the Williamsburg Bridge as a cautionary lesson. In April 1988, it was shut down for more than a month<\/a> after decades of neglect<\/a>, causing widespread chaos<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere should be urgency,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause something is going to happen if nothing is done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Third wave of ideas<\/p>\n

Many New York projects have run into opposition, like the $10 billion plan to replace the Port Authority Bus Terminal<\/a> that was substantially revised last year with community input. \u201cCommunity opposition is a way of life,\u201d Mr. Schwartz said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean we stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the B.Q.E. has often seemed adrift, without a strong champion at the helm to build consensus. Communities have a right to speak out, and \u201cthe job of government is to hear the voices and then whittle it down into something that works,\u201d Mr. Stringer said.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn Councilman Lincoln Restler said the Adams administration has seemed more interested in checking a box than really collaborating with the community. Any plan for the B.Q.E., he added, faces multiple layers of government review and approvals and will require community support to move forward. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a long way to go,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cars in a traffic jam near the north end of the triple cantilever during rush hour in September.<\/p>\n

Haiyun Jiang\/The New York Times<\/p>\n

In 2024, the Adams administration presented another concept<\/a> for the B.Q.E. \u2014 the city\u2019s third attempt \u2014 this time emphasizing an engineering solution: a two-level, stacked highway that would be supported on both sides.<\/p>\n

City\u2019s idea:<\/strong> Stacked highway<\/p>\n

Existing Concept<\/p>\n

Marc Wouters<\/a>, an architect and urban planner, countered with yet another idea. In 2019, he had partnered with the Brooklyn Heights Association on a plan to protect the promenade. Since then, he has spent thousands of hours working on his own to take field measurements, build 3-D models and test engineering scenarios.<\/p>\n

The result is the \u201cStreamline\u201d plan, which would be quicker to build, cost less than other options, and have minimal impact on the promenade and surrounding area, Mr. Wouters said. It would move all traffic to an expanded bottom deck and repurpose the upper deck for bike lanes and a park.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping that it advances because it does seem to check a lot of boxes off for the community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Alternative idea:<\/strong> Streamline plan<\/p>\n

Existing Concept<\/p>\n

Last month, Mayor Adams urged<\/a> Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to start the environmental review process for the B.Q.E., which would consider a range of plans and allow construction to begin in 2029. \u201cAfter a fix for the B.Q.E. languished for decades, the Adams administration advanced this project further than ever before to build a safe, resilient highway,\u201d said Anna Correa, a spokeswoman for Mr. Adams, this week.<\/p>\n

But a new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, will take over in January and may have his own ideas. Mr. Mamdani knows that protecting the safety and stability of the B.Q.E. is \u201can urgent priority for the city,\u201d said his spokeswoman, Dora Pekec. \u201cAfter years of patchwork fixes that have only offered temporary fixes, the Mamdani administration will work to deliver a permanent solution for the city-owned sections of the B.Q.E. that both meets community needs and preserves this essential transportation corridor,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

That will not be a quick or easy process. Big hurdles remain, including how to pay for the project. It was passed over<\/a> for federal funding in 2024 and could cost up to $5 billion, depending on the plan chosen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the B.Q.E. has just bedeviled and frustrated everybody who\u2019s ever driven on it, looked at it, and worked on it \u2014 it\u2019s like a curse,\u201d Ms. Birnback said.<\/p>\n

An aerial view of the triple cantilever.<\/p>\n

Bedel Saget\/The New York Times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The triple cantilever runs along the edge of Brooklyn Heights, a wealthy and politically connected neighborhood. It stands…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":407219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,191958,191957,50199,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,191959,522,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-407218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-brooklyn-heights-brooklyn","10":"tag-brooklyn-queens-expressway","11":"tag-duffy","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-sean-p","19":"tag-transportation","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115618971899430249","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}