BQE 2023 Interim Repairs Project
Sections of the BQE, built between the 1930s and 1960s, are in acute need of structural repairs. Through this joint project, New York City and New York State will work together to make repairs on defective sections of the BQE and begin working on a community-driven plan for a safe, modern, and resilient roadway while taking advantage of federal infrastructure money.
The BQE plays a major role in moving people and goods locally and regionally. The expressway carries an estimated 129,000 vehicles a day and consists of twelve miles of roadway, bridges, trenches, and viaducts running through Brooklyn and Queens, including the triple cantilevered section underneath the Brooklyn Promenade. Residents and city officials have been expressing concerns about the BQE’s structural integrity for nearly a decade.
For purposes of the repairs, New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) has delineated three sections of the BQE: BQE North, running from Sands street to the Kosciuszko Bridge, BQE Central, consisting of the city owned structures from Atlantic Avenue to Sands Street, and BQE South, running from Atlantic Avenue to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.
As part of the repairs project, DOT will make urgent repairs to the Atlantic-to-Sands section to ensure its safety, while working with communities along the BQE corridor to envision and design a modernized, resilient structure with significant public space upgrades and safety improvements for pedestrians, drivers, and cyclists. The BQE North and South project engagement will identify strategies to reconnect communities who are divided by the highway and have been left out of previous BQE engagement processes. This project will follow four guiding principles: 1) stakeholder involvement, 2) Urgency and Resiliency, 3) Equity, 4) Fiscal Responsibility.
BQE repairs will involve 3 weekend closures between March and October of 2023, which will reroute BQE traffic through Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, and sections of CB14. Specifically, some truck traffic will be rerouted down Caton Avenue.
Resources:
- Find upcoming BQE closures related to this project, including the BQE Interim Repairs Weekly Update on the DOT’s Special Traffic Advisories page
- BQE Corridor Vision Website
- BQE Events: workshops and webinars with project information and updates (in person and virtual)
- Provide Feedback via NYC DOT’s BWE webform (select “BQE project”)
- Read the Interim Repairs FAQ on weekend closures for spans 4 and 34 (October 2023)
- James Barron, “How Do You Solve a Problem Like the B.Q.E.?” New York Times, Dec 2022
- To receive regular e-mail updates or if you have any questions, contact DOT’s Community Liaison for this project, Anita Navalurkar, at (347) 647-0876 or anavalurkar.consultant@dot.nyc.gov
Documents, Presentations and Videos
November 2, 2022 CB14 Transportation Committee Meeting
September 22, 2022 DOT Meeting with CB14, 12 and 7
Presentation on interim repairs to CB2 & CB6, June 2022
View the NYC Department of Transportation presentation on the BQE 2023 Interim Repairs Project (presented to CB2 & CB6, June 2022):