BQE woes weigh heavy on locals
The city must establish a public
outreach liaison for the Brooklyn
Queens Expressway’s repair
project, transit-minded civic leaders
demanded at a recent meeting
(“DOT must appoint BQE liaison,
civic honchos demand,” online
April 2).
The Department of Transportation’s
manager of the roadway’s reconstruction,
Tanvi Pandya, is focused
on the technical diffi culties
of the project, so the agency should
add a dedicated staffer to interact
with the local community, said
the leader of Community Board 2’s
transportation committee.
Readers shared their thoughts
on the matter:
It’s not just about us but about everyone
that is affected by the BQE
project. Whether some of you like
it or not, the BQE has to be rebuilt.
Commerce has to fl ow and highways
are a great solution for the cars and
trucks that make it happen.
Unfortunately, the subway was
never coordinated when it was fi rst
built, leaving many areas of Brooklyn
and the other outer boroughs
underserved. Until the MTA can get
its act together — ie. early and late
running Express Buses and to many
more neighborhoods, and more frequent
trains — there is little choice
for many but to use means other than
the MTA. Gerard
from Brooklyn
It’s been known for a long time
— more than 20 years — that this rebuild
would have to take place. As
the march south on the rebuild of the
BQE I278 took place over the last 30
years, this section was scoped out
in the early 2000s. Beginning about
2003, talk about what needed to be
done was started as each section of
the BQE was completed, particularly
the section between the Kosciusko
Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge,
NY State DOT assumed this would be
the next section.
About 2010, the money that was
“set” aside disappeared..to be used
to build the Mario Cuomo Bridge (in
Tarrytown). The section above the
Sand St. exit was rebuilt in the normal
SOUND OFF TO THE EDITOR
LETTERS AND COMMENTS FROM OUR READERS
way. A two- to three-lane temporary
viaduct was built next to the current
elevated roadway and then the
highway was rebuilt in two or three
lane sections with three lanes mostly
maintained in each direction.
The section at issue here, between
Sand Street and Atlantic Avenue, is
unique (I am told in the world). It’s a
triple cantilever construction so that
each of the three levels are connected
and cantilevered out a one holding
wall (not two). Each section must be
completely rebuilt. It’s not possible
to rebuild each cantilever separately
until the supporting wall is rebuilt
fi rst. Compounding this is its relatively
narrow footprint and major
new construction on the Brooklyn
Bridge Park side. It is used by 150,000
plus vehicles each day and is a major
truck route (which will become
more important when congestion
pricing is introduced in Manhattan,
in my opinion). I am also told when
it was originally built it was paid for
by the city and while the city may
have eventually been repaid, it was
a blank space on the interstate highway
map for a while.
The city has now taken over the
responsibility to get this done and to
pay for it. The history of how it came
to be is beyond this posting...but suffi
ce to say Robert Moses built it this
way. I have no preconceived ideas
of the best way this should be built,
but it is in my opinion vital that it
be done with as little disruption as
possible. I don’t want 150,000 cars or
trucks or both rumbling through the
neighborhood.
While a tunnel would be nice, it’s
prohibitively expensive, and would
take too long and might involve the
use of eminent domain. It also may
not directly connect to the bridges
it needs to and there are at least four
heavily used subway tunnels under
the current highway, and the MTA
rightfully doesn’t want anything
near/under or close to these tunnels.
I know other people know these dates
better than I do...but they are close.
Sid from Boerum Hill
To the Editor,
We are supposed to learn from
history. However, too often, we do not
learn its lessons.
New York City is a tourist mecca.
Our great landmarks include the
Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, the
Coney Island Boardwalk, and the
United Nations, to name just a few.
These attractions bring tourists to
COURIER L 38 IFE, APRIL 5–11, 2019 PS
New York and help the economy.
One of these attractions is the
Brooklyn Heights Promenade. Standing
on the Promenade, you get a great
view of the New York skyline. I have
met many tourists on the Promenade.
These individuals then shop in the
local shops.
The BQE that goes under the
Promenade is due for much-needed
repairs. The proposals that seem to
be most likely to be adopted would
require the closing of the Promenade
for several years. This would be a
disaster for several reasons:
• It would reduce the number of
tourists coming to Brooklyn Heights.
• There would be reductions in
store revenue.
• There would be a loss of jobs.
• There is no guarantee that the
Promenade would be restored at all,
let alone in the magnifi cent manner
that it is.
The better method would be to
keep the Promenade as is and use
the streets. Alan Podhaizer
Coney Island
Congestion questions
To the Editor,
Your paper broke new ground
last week — and not in a good way —
with a two-page editorial for congestion
pricing instead of a letters page
(“Congestion tolls are the price of
progress,” Editorial, March 29–April
4). You are asking us to write lawmakers
a blank check to fund the
MTA. Many unanswered questions
fi rst need to be addressed:
• Will all the money go to the
MTA, and what percent will be spent
within New York City on subways
and buses? How much will go to paying
bonds and pensions? Past proposals
called for half the monies to go to
roads. Would any money go toward
bicycle lanes and ferries? If so, why?
• How much will it cost, and once
implemented, will it increase every
two years as fares and tolls
currently do?
• Will there be off-peak discounts,
and why should it be in effect on
weekends when half the subways are
not operating normally?
• How much, if any, will be spent
on just providing improved off-peak
service levels so bus riders do not
have to wait forever and subway riders
are not packed in like sardines on
Saturday nights at 11 p.m.?
• Will the FDR be exempt, and why
should someone traveling a mile on
Canal Street just to get from Brooklyn
or Queens to New Jersey be
charged the same as someone traveling
fi ve miles or more in Manhattan?
Their alternative is traveling an
extra 20 miles using the already congested
BQE to reach the Verrazano or
GW Bridge. Congestion pricing will
not reduce congestion.
• Will tolls be cut in half on other
MTA bridges as once promised if congestion
pricing is enacted, and how
long would that remain in effect?
• Where is the MTA’s incentive to
become more effi cient by cutting construction
costs and infl ated management
and to care more about its riders?
How much of this money would
instead go toward increased salaries?
Those old enough will remember
other false promises such as if we
double to TBTA tolls from 25 cents
to 50 cents, the MTA’s fi nancial problems
will be over, a bond issue will
get us a Second Avenue Subway, and
a state lottery will greatly increase
our support of public education. Instead,
teachers now have to use their
own money for school supplies.
The days of trusting our politicians
to do the right thing is over.
Money should be used to fund new
and restructured bus routes, not trading
increased frequencies for reduced
bus coverage as the MTA wants to
do. Yes, there should be no tolls on
the Cross Bay and Marine Parkway
Bridges. However, we need assurances,
not promises, before we support
congestion pricing. Allan Rosen
Sheepshead Bay
Vote for 99 percent
To the Editor,
Frankly, at this point, I don’t care
if you vote blue or red because the
REAL BATTLE is economic, a CLA$$
WARFARE; and it always has been.
If you’re not part of the one percent
you should be VERY angry at
the extreme dysfunction of the electoral
and political systems in place,
and the only partisan voting should
be for and with the 99 percent tribe.
In this day and age, there are still
some differences between the blue
and red parties, and for me the blue
rhetoric better approaches a kind,
thoughtful, generous heart that is
fi rst for WE THE PEOPLE, the taxpaying,
voting citizenry.
I implore people to think and feel
for yourself. Surely the vital issues
before us should not be solely decided
by tribal upbringing — unless it’s the
99 percent tribe. Barry Brothers
Homecrest
LET US HEAR FROM YOU
Submit letters to: Zach Gewelb,
Edi tor, Courier Life, 1 MetroTech Center
North, Brooklyn, NY 11201, or e-mail to
editorial@schnepsmedia.com. Please
include your address and tele phone
number so we can con fi rm you sent
the letter. We reserve the right to edit
all correspondence, which becomes
the property of Courier Life.
link
link