Connect the DOTs to fix the BQE: Two lanes, not three, is better for safety and travel

Mayor Adams is right to finally start the process to fix and replace the crumbling Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the hated drivers’ nightmare in Brooklyn Heights that supports on top the beloved pedestrian promenade.

His predecessor, also a Brooklynite like Adams, fumbled on the project for years, but very late in his term did wisely reduce the roadway from three lanes of traffic in each direction to two lanes, making for a safer highway. The result was a substantial reduction in crashes on the triple cantilever structure; actually, its two lower levels. The bottom deck carries I-278 vehicles southbound, the middle deck carries I-278 vehicles northbound and the top deck carries walkers, joggers and bikers on the promenade.

The area’s collective representatives in Congress, the state Senate, the Assembly and the City Council have jointly urged that the two-lane solution be made permanent, even after the BQE is fully rebuilt. They are right and an option for a return to three lanes of traffic in the preliminary design concepts is the wrong way to go.

They are also right in demanding that New York State — which means Gov. Hochul — get much more deeply involved. City Hall owns the triple cantilever and the mayor’s Department of Transportation is responsible for it, which is why they have the lead. But the connecting stretches on either end are state highways under the aegis of the state Department of Transportation, as the whole of the BQE must be redone. And to add yet another layer, the route is designated as part of the federal interstate system and the large bulk of the money for the repairs will come from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

From DOT to DOT to DOT. You know what to do.

Hochul must join Adams in preparing a comprehensive integrated city/state plan for the BQE and presenting it to the feds for funding. Brooklyn is its own universe, but it is still part of the state, the most populous county thereof.

Fixing the BQE requires all hands on the decks.