Major BQE repairs completed 24 hours ahead of schedule
DOT traffic agents diverted vehicles from Hicks Street at Pierrepont Street Saturday afternoon, June 1, during the closure of the Queens-bound BQE. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS/COBBLE HILL — Weekend repairs to the Queens-bound Brooklyn-Queens Expressway wrapped up a full 24-hours ahead of schedule, relieving both drivers and residents of Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill and Downtown Brooklyn.
The busy highway had been closed on Saturday between the Atlantic Avenue entrance ramp and the Manhattan Bridge exit ramp, with north-bound traffic being detoured onto Atlantic Avenue.
NYC Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez made the surprise announcement Sunday morning, as locals were preparing for a second day of traffic jams on Atlantic Avenue and local streets. The expressway fully reopened at 6 a.m. Sunday; work had been scheduled to run until 4 a.m. Monday.
A DOT pedestrian manager, wearing bright orange, assisted pedestrians and cyclists at a busy Atlantic Avenue crossing on Saturday, June 1, during BQE repairs. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle
But birds could be heard singing on Hicks Street Sunday morning. The narrow local street had been bumper to bumper in Brooklyn Heights early Saturday, but DOT diverted vehicles from Hicks at Pierrepont Street later in the day.
The jams on local streets had exasperated one Heights resident, who was apparently caught unaware of the (highly-publicized) shutdown. He said he had been driving home with fresh fish in his car. “It took me 20 minutes to drive from Fish Tales [in Cobble Hill],” he told the Brooklyn Eagle.
Local streets in Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill were jammed Saturday during the full closure of the Queens-bound BQE. Shown above: Hicks Street in the north Heights Saturday morning. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle
The repairs added new concrete and reinforcing steel bars at spans near Clark Street and Grace Court, as part of near-term work critical to continuing the BQE’s life span until long-term decisions about the deteriorated structure are finalized.
“I am proud of all the dedicated employees and crew members who worked around the clock to make repairs to the BQE and completed the work ahead of schedule,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “Closing a major highway for repairs is always difficult, but I am pleased that we could make necessary repairs while minimizing disruptions to the surrounding community.”
DOT traffic enforcement agents and pedestrian managers were posted at key intersections on Atlantic Avenue and other streets on Saturday. Shown: This traffic agent was dealing with vehicles at Atlantic Avenue and Henry Street. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle
DOT traffic agents and pedestrian managers were also likely relieved to hear the news, after working through Saturday’s bright sunshine and 82 degree heat. “I could use a Gatorade,” a pedestrian manager on Atlantic Avenue told the Brooklyn Eagle Saturday afternoon.
The weekend’s repairs were the third of three weekends of scheduled repair work involving a full closure of a stretch of the BQE in recent months, with prior closures in October 2023 and April 2024.
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