De Blasio names ‘expert panel’ on re-building Brooklyn-Queens Expressway
Published on Apr 3, 2019 by
De Blasio names ‘expert panel’ on re-building Brooklyn-Queens Expressway
WRITTEN BY RICH CALDER
WRITTEN ON APRIL 3, 2019
Back to the drawing board.
Mayor de Blasio named an “expert panel” Wednesday to examine options for rebuilding the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway following angry protests over a plan that would shut the popular Brooklyn Heights Promenade for at least six years.
A report from the new panel, headed by Carlo Scissura of the New York Building Congress, is due this summer.
“This BQE project is one of the most critical infrastructure projects in New York City,” said Scissura.
“We need to get it right and ensure that future generations benefit and are proud of what we did.”
The city is currently weighing a temporary six-lane roadway atop the promenade as it replaces a 1¹/₂-mile stretch of the BQE beneath itr.
The cost is estimated at more than $3 billion, with a six-year time frame.
Alternately, the Department of Transportation has suggested reconstructing the BQE lane-by-lane, without an extensive closure of the promenade.
Officials said that could take more than eight years and cost more than $4 billion.
Following an outcry over those plans, de Blasio last year said he wanted to take a serious look at finding an alternative approach that wouldn’t shut down the promenade, leading to the new 16-member panel.
The mayor’s announcement came a day after the Regional Plan Association suggested rebuilding the BQE as a four-lane roadway instead of a six-lane one.
The RPA said the congestion-pricing plan approved earlier this week in Albany “could, depending on how it is implemented, remove enough cars and trucks from the relevant section of the BQE to allow remaining traffic to accommodate a four-lane highway.”
The agency also said requiring vehicles on the BQE to have three or more occupants during peak hours could reduce traffic by 20 to 25 percent — which would be enough to allow for a four-lane highway.
The BQE, built by Robert Moses in the 1950s, carries some 153,000 vehicles each day.
An online petition launched by the advocacy group A Better Way generated 70,000 signatures asking the city not to shut the promenade.
Hilary Jager, a spokeswoman for the group, credited community efforts for convincing the mayor to seek new ideas.
“Passionate community voices led us to this moment, and those same voices will demand a say in this process as it moves forward,” she said.
Read the article at the New York Post.com
