Plan to Repair Brooklyn-Queens Expressway

I'm standing under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

It's nearly 70 years old, and it's long past its shelf life.

While it's still safe to drive on, for now, we can't wait any longer.

We're done kicking the can down the road.

That's why we're announcing a plan to repair the city-owned section of the BQE,

known as BQE Central. Before we talk about how we're fixing the

BQE, let's

talk about how we got here. The BQE was built by New York's most famous, or

infamous, urban planner, Robert Moses.

It was part of his grand vision of building highways across New York City for

a

population that, more and more, wanted to drive their own cars.

But Robert Moses is another video entirely.

When he finished the BQE Central in 1954, it was only designed to handle

around 50,000 car trips a day, and last for 50 years.

But here we are, 70 years later, with more than 130,000

vehicles driving on it daily, including 13,000 heavy trucks.

You do the math. This isn't a new problem.

For decades, prior administrations have been trying to

figure out a way to address

the urgently needed repairs to the BQE.

Mayor de Blasio's formed a new panel to evaluate options to replace the BQE.

Mayor Adams unveiling a new vision for a reimagined Brooklyn-Queens

Expressway.

Every year we don't do something about the BQE, it costs the city

$160 million, but all we have to show for it is

this.

So here's the plan. We're gonna repair the 1.5 miles of BQE

Central,

which is the only part of the highway actually controlled by the city.

We'll fix the aging concrete and triple cantilever section that's

most in need of repair. We'll build a temporary road for

traffic, which avoids sending tens of thousands of

cars and trucks

into local streets, and keeps the highway operable during

construction.

This will extend the life of the BQE for another 40 years.

This plan allows us to safely fix the current problem without slowing our

city down and wasting decades more waiting while the BQE

continues to get worse. This won't be easy, it won't be quick,

but we're

done waiting on one of the city's most severe infrastructure issues.

Let's get to work.