NYC pols want more details of BQE rebuilding plans, including fate of Brooklyn Heights promenade

A gumptious group of elected officials sent a letter to the city Department of Transportation demanding more details on its plan to fix a crumbling stretch of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

The letter, sent Friday and signed by U.S. Representatives Nydia Velázquez and Hakeem Jeffries, city Controller Scott Stringer and six other local lawmakers, raised concerns about the project’s timeline and funding.

The project has been riddled with controversy since last September, when DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg presented two strategies to fix the roadway, one of which was building a temporary elevated six-lane highway that would require the closure of the beloved Brooklyn Heights Promenade.

Following public outcry and a heavy lobbying effort from Brooklyn community groups, Mayor de Blasio in April formed an “expert panel” to look into alternative methods to repair the BQE.

“In the lead-up to the release of the BQE Expert Panel’s evaluation and report, we are interested to learn more about changes to the project’s timeline, scope, and funding as well as the ongoing involvement of state and federal agencies,” the letter states.

DOT spokesman Scott Gastel said agency officials plan to meet with the politicians to address their questions, and will release an updated timeline for the project once the panel has provided its recommendations.

Carlo Scissura, president of the New York Building Congress and head of the BQE panel, told the Daily News that he’s made “time to meet with everybody” about the project, and said the panel will release its report this fall.

“This is not an easy project,” said Scissura. “We are doing our homework. We are doing our due diligence. I’m personally not in a rush… I want to get this done right.”

Scissura in June said the prospect of closing the promenade during the repairs had a “very slim chance of being approved.”

Stringer’s office in March put together an alternative BQE reconstruction plan of its own, which would ban passenger cars on a one-and-a-half-mile stretch of the thoroughfare. That pitch, along with several others, are being evaluated by the panel.

The proposals for the project are set to begin environmental review later this year, a process that will drag on for up to two years.