It’s the end of the road for a pair of ambitious plans to make over two of Brooklyn’s most dilapidated highways.
Blaming the national economic downturn, state and federal transportation officials said yesterday that they are abandoning plans to modernize and revamp crumbling stretches of the Brooklyn-Queens and Gowanus expressways.
Plans had been floated for a 1.5-mile section of the BQE, from Atlantic Avenue to Sands Street in Brooklyn Heights. They had ranged from a $280 million renovation of the decrepit roadway – including the two-level portion that famously generates booming sounds from under the Brooklyn Heights Promenade – to various proposals to ease snarling traffic with vehicular tunnels that would’ve run up to $20 billion.
Brooklyn Heights Association Executive Director Judy Stanton said she was “shocked” to learn the state Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration no longer considered overhauling the BQE a “critical need.”
“We assumed it was a necessity because they described the BQE as very deteriorated and substandard,” Stanton said. “But if all they are going to do is continue Band-Aid repair work at the city’s expense, it won’t be sufficient.”
She said an increase in truck traffic has led to more complaints from nearby homeowners about loud bangs and strong vibrations from moving vehicles, adding it will just get worse as the road continues to crumble.
Officials also said they’re not moving forward with a 3.8-mile rehabilitation of the Gowanus Expressway from Sixth Avenue to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel.
It would have ranged from $2 billion in repairs to replacing much of the elevated highway in Sunset Park with a $15 billion underground tunnel.
Cobble Hill activist Roy Sloane, who has been fighting for the BQE improvements for many years, said the decision to discontinue studying a highway makeover is a big blow to public safety.
“We were told by the state that the BQE was in danger of collapsing in the 80s,” said Sloane. “It’s also pathetic that they put all these years and effort in, spent money on all sorts of designs and are now dropping it.
However, a state DOT spokesman said recent inspections of the two highways showed they “do not require major repairs at this time.”
Naomi Doerner, an urban planner who consulted the state DOT on the BQE project, said in an email that that the city and state “will continue to support efforts to ensure” the highway “remains a safe and reliable roadway in our transportation system.”