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BQE lane reduction
The Brooklyn Queens Expressway was reduced to two lanes between Atlantic Avenue and the Brooklyn Bridge.
NEW YORK - The BQE looks different today. No, the traffic jams haven’t gone anywhere. What is different is that for the approximately mile-long stretch between Atlantic Avenue and the Brooklyn Bridge, three lanes have been reduced to two.
The lane reconfiguration is intended to prolong the life span of the roadway by 20 years by reducing the weight it must bear. The city plans to take other steps like stopping water infiltration to reduce corrosion.
If you use the BQE, prepare for significant delays. If it’s possible, take mass transit instead. Truckers should use the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel and New Jersey Turnpike as alternates.
There’s still no long-term fix for the BQE. The Department of Transportation will meet with community groups to try and come up with a solution.
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Last year, the City Council released a report suggesting two ambitious, expensive, and complicated options: either a tunnel bypass or a capped highway.
The tunnel bypass option would feature a three-mile tunnel running underground from the Gowanus Canal to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. A massive tunnel-boring machine would be used to make it.
RELATED: Replace Brooklyn–Queens Expressway with a tunnel
"We now have the technology to do a tunnel, like this, where it can go deep underground into the bedrock, there's a boring machine that can do it with minimal destruction on the surface so it's not like it would be the 'Big Dig' Brooklyn-style," Council Member Stephen Levin, referring to Boston's infamous 25-year project nicknamed the Big Dig.
But some critics are saying that a tunnel would be too costly would take too long.