Lawmakers Call On Cuomo To Fast-Track BQE Reconstruction

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, NY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo is being asked to fast-track the reconstruction of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to avoid a truck ban on the roadway.

City officials said the BQE's roadway has become so unstable trucks will have to be barred from a section of it and, instead, pushed onto local streets if reconstruction isn't finished by 2026.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Comptroller Scott Stringer and other local lawmakers rallied near the highway in Brooklyn Heights Friday to get Cuomo to approve a plan that will expedite the process.

"It will save us 2 years and over $113 million taxpayer dollars," Adams wrote on Twitter. "Let’s get this done!"

The city will have to limit the weight on a 1.5 mile stretch of the BQE if the project doesn't finish by 2026, the Department of Transportation previously said. It would kick trucks off between Atlantic Avenue and Sands Street and onto local roads like Third and Fourth avenues.

The DOT asked the state to approve a process that lets the project's design and build work be bid on and completed by the same contractor — instead of the usual splitting them up. Officials say that will save money and time.

At the rally, Johnson said that since the process was used for Cuomo's father's namesake bridge in Queens he should be able to authorize it for the Brooklyn highway, according to Twitter.

The governor's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Image: Kathleen Culliton/Patch