Yisroel R.

After years of debate over what to do with one of Brooklyn’s most important and aging highways, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Monday morning that New York City is moving ahead with a massive $4 billion plan to repair and rebuild the city-owned portion of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

Mamdani revealed the plan in a video released early Monday morning, saying the city is “done kicking the can down the road” on BQE Central, the 1.5-mile stretch running between Atlantic Avenue and Sands Street. The section includes the well-known triple cantilever beneath the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, which has become one of the biggest concerns along the aging expressway. 

The numbers help explain why City Hall says the project can no longer be delayed. The BQE Central infrastructure is already around 20 years beyond its original design life, which was originally designed to withstand approximately 50 years of structural service, but is now 70 years old, 20 years beyond its expected lifespan and carries more than 130,000 vehicles every day. Although the city says the structure remains safe, officials acknowledge that it requires extensive and increasingly costly maintenance while a permanent solution remains unfinished. The city says it is currently spending approximately $160 million each year maintaining the aging structure. 

Actually rebuilding the highway without creating a traffic nightmare will be a project of its own. Under the new plan, the city would construct temporary bypass roadways so traffic can continue moving while the existing BQE is repaired. One two-level temporary roadway would run along Furman Street below the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, while another elevated bypass would carry traffic farther north across the Brooklyn Bridge approach. Once the main highway work is completed, the temporary structures would then be removed. 

The full project is expected to take roughly ten years, with major construction currently projected to begin around 2030. When completed, officials say the overhaul would extend the life of the BQE Central section by approximately another 40 years. Before construction begins, the city will have to move through environmental and land-use reviews and other planning steps. 

The BQE has been the subject of repair proposals and redesign discussions for years, with previous NYC mayoral administrations considering different ways to rebuild the deteriorating highway while limiting the impact on nearby Brooklyn neighborhoods. Mayor Mamdani’s plan now represents the latest move to actually begin repairing the highway that City Hall says is running out of time.

Will he be the first to actually do it? Time will tell.