New bill to identify and fine illegal trucks on BQE addresses years of abuse by overweight inland haulers

May 29, 2020 Editorial Staff

The cantilever structure built more than 75 years ago was not designed to carry the huge inland cargo haulers used extensively in recent years. Photo: Paul Frangipane/Brooklyn Eagle

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State Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon and State Sen. Brian Kavanagh have introduced legislation to establish a pilot program that uses mobile or stationary weigh-in-motion systems to enforce restrictions on overweight trucks on the BQE in Brooklyn.

The bill is particularly important since overweight trucks contribute to the BQE’s crumbling infrastructure, according to Simon.

State Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon says a proposed fitness center and field house at Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park needs an environmental review. Eagle file photo by Paul Frangipane — State Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon. Photo: Paul Frangipane/Brooklyn Eagle

The bill would create an enforcement program that would automatically issue violations for trucks that are recorded as having weights substantially above the existing legal limits.

The New York State Department of Transportation would enter into a memorandum of understanding with the New York City Department of Transportation to carry out the program.

State Sen. Brian Kavanagh. Eagle photo by Paul Frangipane — State Sen. Brian Kavanagh. Photo: Paul Frangipane/Brooklyn Eagle

Weigh-in-motion systems would record the axle weights and gross weights of vehicles that drive over the site of the system, without the need for the vehicles to stop.

The program would impose fines upon the owner of the vehicle for failure to comply with existing weight restrictions. The bill also includes privacy protections for the drivers, vehicles, and data collected.

As the Eagle has reported, sections of the BQE have been in disrepair for many years, in particular the crumbling three-level cantilever structure in Brooklyn Heights under the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. Several competing plans for reconstruction of this section have been put forward.

The first plan offered by the city, which entailed closing the Promenade temporarily and making it into a highway while work was proceeding, caused an outcry in the Heights and was later withdrawn.