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There’s another delay in the plan to rebuild a unique section of a key New York City highway that handles about 150,000 cars per day.
Reconstruction of the cantilevered section of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway in Brooklyn saw a chunk of its funding pushed out further into the future in a recent budget proposal by first-year Mayor Eric Adams.
While the entire length of the BQE has numerous structural issues, it is the section with its unique cantilever structure, riding below the Brooklyn Heights promenade across the bay from lower Manhattan, that has raised the most concern regarding structural integrity.
To emphasize that the project is still expected to be pursued, but only later, the mayor’s budget statement says that total planned capital spending on the BQE project between fiscal 2022 (the current year) and fiscal 2031 remains at $1.5 billion.
The more aggressive projects to rebuild the roughly 1.5-mile key section of the BQE cost between $5 billion and $11 billion, according to the Adams administration budget proposal.
Adams said the decision to reduce the spending in this year’s budget was made possible in part because of unspent funds on various transportation projects from prior years. He also said he ultimately wants to craft a solution to structural and other issues on the entire stretch of the BQE through Brooklyn.
