Feds approve $5.6M grant to reconnect neighborhoods split by BQE

March 12, 2024 Mary Frost

Cars drive by on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway

The BQE “trench” divides the South Williamsburg community. Eagle photo by Mary Frost

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The U.S. Department of Transportation has approved a $5.6 million grant to advance a redesign of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway’s North and South corridors, Brooklyn elected officials announced Tuesday.

The expressway has divided neighborhoods like Williamsburg and Sunset Park for almost 70 years, bringing noise, pollution and increased levels of asthma and heart disease. The grant aims at reconnecting these communities and reducing the negative environmental and economic impacts from the roughly 150,000 vehicles traversing the highway daily.

Brooklyn officials and a coalition of 17 community groups representing neighborhoods from northern to southern Brooklyn — the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway Environmental Justice Coalition — have been working together for years to undo some of the damage Robert Moses’ highway caused when he rammed it through neighborhoods without the political clout to divert it, such as Brooklyn Heights.

Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08), Rep. Dan Goldman (NY-10), Rep. Nydia Velázquez (NY-07), U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said in statements on Tuesday that they had urged Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg to prioritize the “BQE Connects: Advancing the BQE North and South Corridor Vision” grant.

The BQE “Trench” seen here divides the Cobble Hill community. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

“This grant is the catalyst we need to finally put together a comprehensive plan to reimagine the entire BQE corridor and to address environmental justice issues that plague the northern and southern portions of the expressway,” the officials said. “Our offices will work to ensure this is just the beginning of the federal government’s investment in the BQE with fairness and justice at the forefront.”

The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway Environmental Justice Coalition said in a statement, “Our vision is clear: to transform the BQE into a space that prioritizes the well-being of all communities impacted by its presence. This includes not only addressing immediate health concerns and traffic-related dangers but also envisioning a future where environmental justice is at the forefront of decision-making and infrastructure planning.”

NYC DOT gives these examples of treatments that could be applied to BQE North and South. Photo: NYC DOT

DOT says at least two proposals will be considered

“The BQE Corridor grant we won moves us closer to undoing some of the damage that Robert Moses caused and invests in beautiful, interconnected new public spaces,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a release on Wednesday. Gov. Kathy Hochul and state DOT Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez said they were committed to working closely with the community and government partners on this.

Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi credited the city’s Federal Infrastructure Task Force for creating “the best possible applications for federal funding.” The administration also secured a $117 million federal grant to further develop the QueensWay, a park being built on a vacant corridor of the former LIRR Rockaway Beach Branch. A controversial $800 million NYC DOT grant proposal to rebuild the city-owned BQE Central, a crumbling section stretching from Atlantic Avenue to Sands Street, was recently rejected.

“The BQE has needlessly divided communities for decades and our administration is committed to doing its part to help bring them together,” NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said. “We look forward to exploring projects like capping, street redesigns and more in close collaboration with Brooklynites along the highway.”

NYC DOT has held workshops to generate ideas for improving areas surrounding and under BQE North and South, but not on reconstructing the highway itself, since — unlike BQE Central — these sections of the highway are owned by the state.

In its release on Wednesday, DOT said examples of possible treatments for BQE North and South include full or partial highway capping; pedestrian connections; intersection and ramp improvements; and “under the elevated” improvements.

At least two proposals — one for BQE North and one for BQE South — will advance to partial design, “laying the groundwork for DOT and NYS DOT to continue developing concepts to reconnect communities across the corridor,” NYC DOT said.

From left: Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Rep. Nydia Velazquez and Councilmember Lincoln Restler at a BQGreen press conference in June 2023. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

Schumer gives a shoutout to BQGreen

Schumer singled out the BQGreen proposal in his statement.

“For years, North and South Brooklyn residents have come together to propose innovative solutions to address the impacts of the BQE on their communities. Efforts like the campaign for the BQGreen in North Brooklyn … will receive the support they need for planning and visioning work. BQE Connects will identify ways to improve community access and reduce environmental and economic impacts on disadvantaged communities adjacent to the BQE,” Schumer said.

The BQGreen proposal would build a green, parklike platform over a sunken portion of the BQE cutting through a Black, Latino and Orthodox Jewish section of South Williamsburg. The project would combine Marcy Green and Rodney Park to create 3.5 acres of green, open space.

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso has been supporting the project since then-Councilmember Diana Reyna, for whom Reynoso was serving as Chief of Staff, came up with the idea in 2010.

At a BQGreen press conference in June 2023, Reynoso noted that childhood asthma cases at Woodhull Hospital was three times higher for neighborhood kids than the rate for the general city population.

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso describes features of the proposed BQGreen in June 2023. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

The grant is a step in the right direction, Rami Dinnawi, Environmental Justice Campaign & Policy Manager at northern Brooklyn nonprofit El Puente, told the Brooklyn Eagle on Tuesday.

“We look forward to working with the city and state of New York to ensure the community-visioned BQE mitigation becomes a reality and follows an implementation grant to make the plans a reality. We applaud Congressmember Velazquez on her leadership in championing the BQGreen plan that aims to reconnect our people and begin to right the wrongs imposed on us by the infamous Robert Moses,” Dinnawi said.

The same negative health issues affect neighborhoods in the BQE North section, running from Cobble Hill to Sunset Park. In Sunset Park, levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), the most harmful air pollutant, are 8.5 micrograms per cubic meter, higher than both the borough and citywide average, according to figures submitted by the coalition. A project proposed by neighborhood organizations including UPROSE proposes a Sunset Park Greenway-Blueway for BQE South, which would connect to Brooklyn’s existing waterfront greenway.

At the BQE 2053 symposium on Governors Island, an overarching theme was the necessity of rethinking the entire BQE corridor as a whole, rather than in segments, as part of a sustainable, multi-modal transportation network.

The Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant Program (NAE), established in President Biden’s bipartisan Inflation Reduction Act, is providing more than $3 billion in grant awards to connect communities across the country and mitigate negative environmental impacts.