Brooklyn jail construction could make BQE closure even more hellish this weekend

April 12, 2024 Mary Frost

The BQE. Eagle file photo by Don Evans

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UPDATE: The NYC Department of Design and Construction had some good news for Brooklyn drivers on Saturday.

Contractors found another way to dismantle a decommissioned water meter under Atlantic Avenue in front of the former Brooklyn House of Detention between Boerum Place and Smith Street, DDC spokesperson Ian Michaels told the Brooklyn Eagle.

This means there will be no need to close the right-hand turning lane of Atlantic Avenue in front of the jail site on Sunday — at the same time as this weekend’s shutdown of the Queens-bound lanes of the BQE, which is diverting tens of thousands of vehicles along Atlantic Avenue to Boerum Place.

“Good news,” Michaels said Saturday. “We were able to complete the work. There will be no shutdown tomorrow.”

Having two massive projects affecting the same intersection on the same day (Sunday) was expected to make a bad traffic situation even worse. So this surprising but welcome announcement means Brooklyn drivers using Atlantic Avenue will get a bit of a break.

BOERUM HILL — Plans by the city’s Department of Transportation to avoid traffic chaos during this weekend’s shutdown of the Queens-bound Brooklyn-Queens Expressway just got more complicated.

All Queens-bound lanes of the BQE will be closed between Atlantic Avenue and Sands Street (the Triple Cantilever on the Brooklyn Heights waterfront) from 2 a.m. on the morning of Saturday, April 13, to 4 a.m. Monday, April 15.

Local officials and organizations have coordinated with DOT for months on plans to cope with this weekend’s closure, which will divert tens of thousands of vehicles along Atlantic Avenue to Boerum Place, where they will be directed to turn left.

This map shows this weekend’s Queens-bound detour along Atlantic Avenue. Map: NYC DOT

On Thursday, locals learned that the Department of Design and Construction will be closing a block-long lane of Atlantic Avenue at the same intersection on the very same weekend.

DDC, which is dismantling the old Brooklyn House of Detention, said crews will be closing the right-hand turning lane of Atlantic Avenue between Smith Street and Boerum Place in front of the jail site to remove a decommissioned water meter. DDC issued its notice of closure on April 10.

This map shows the section of Atlantic Avenue which will be closed Sunday in front of the jail site. Map: NYC DDS

Why this weekend?

Why DDC picked this one weekend of potential traffic hell out of all possible weekends to close the Atlantic Avenue turning lane mystifies locals.

“I’ve just been advised that, despite the Atlantic Avenue – BQE detour, the jail is eliminating a lane of traffic to do work on Sunday. It’s incredibly frustrating,” Councilmember Lincoln Restler told the Brooklyn Eagle. “This weekend closure has been planned for years. I’m disappointed that city agencies failed to coordinate with one another to coordinate work on two massive projects. Atlantic Avenue is a primary detour route. It’s already a challenge, and this is going to make it much, much worse.”

Council Member Lincoln Restler. Photo: Beth Eisgrau-Heller/Brooklyn Eagle

A DDC spokesperson told the Eagle that DDS contractors were only closing a center section of the turning lane (which DDC originally mislabeled as a parking lane). The work was being conducted on Sunday to prevent disruption of traffic during busy weekdays, the spokesperson said.

“Since when does DDC do traffic analyses?” said Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon. “I don’t see how this could not have an impact this weekend.

City agencies ‘need better coordination’

Kelly Carroll, executive director of the Atlantic Avenue BID, said there should have been better coordination between city agencies.

“Not only is the closure happening on the same weekend as a BQE closure, it is occurring in the exact location of the detour. While DOT made a plan for a BQE detour, we now need a detour for the detour,” she said.

Carroll said that businesses on the affected blocks of Atlantic Avenue experienced noise and aggressive driving the last BQE closure, and the additional lane closure between Boerum and Smith would only add to the aggravation.

“I am glad I won’t be there this weekend and I know I’ll hear all about it on Monday,” she said.

Kelly Carroll, executive director, Atlantic Avenue Business Improvement District.Photo by Wayne Daren Schneiderman — Kelly Carroll, executive director, Atlantic Avenue Business Improvement District. Photo by Wayne Daren Schneiderman

Justin Pollock, a member of the Brooklyn Borough-Based Jail Neighborhood Advisory Committee, said the group has repeatedly asked for coordination between the BQE rehabilitation project and the jail demolition and construction teams.

“In the years that jail demolition has been taking place, I don’t recall the need to impede traffic on Atlantic Avenue once. The one time that a lane closure is planned, the demolition team has chosen a weekend with full closure of the Queens-bound BQE,” he said. “It is just one more example of the disrespect the city and administration has for the community and lack of planning.”

A City Hall spokesperson denied there was any lack of communication between city agencies. The city went through all of the standard approvals processes, and all agencies were on board before moving forward, the spokesperson said.

A DOT source told the Eagle that the agency did coordinate with DDC on what they needed this weekend for work to proceed smoothly. Since the jail work would only require staging within half of a block on a single lane on Atlantic Avenue, and all of the other travel lanes would be open, DOT was confident that they would have all necessary accommodations in place, the source said.

Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

DOT: ‘Use mass transit’

“We encourage all New Yorkers to use mass transit while we make essential repairs to the BQE this weekend,” DOT spokesperson Vincent Barone told the Eagle. “We are confident that these planned repairs will help preserve the lifespan of the BQE with minimal impacts to the local community. We will be closely monitoring the closures to ensure that traffic flows as smoothly as possible, and the NYPD will have traffic enforcement agents out to assist with detours.”

BQE closure details

The BQE repairs focus on new concrete and reinforcing steel bars being added at spans near Clark Street and Grace Court as part of near-term work critical to continuing the structure’s lifespan, NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said in a release.

Eight Queens-bound entrance ramps will be closed, and Traffic Enforcement Agents and pedestrian managers will be posted at key intersections. During this time, one Staten Island-bound lane will also be closed during overnight hours.

DOT has removed parking on the south side of Atlantic Avenue (from Clinton Street to Boerum Place) and the east side of Clinton Street (from Atlantic Avenue to State Street).

Several traffic diversion maps can be found here.