DOT barrels ahead with BQE environmental review, despite questions and controversy

December 11, 2024 Mary Frost

The BQE. Eagle photo by Mary Frost

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DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — The New York City Department of Transportation is moving ahead with the federal environmental review process for a reconstructed Brooklyn-Queens Expressway Central — despite the many questions and controversies surrounding the design of the proposed expressway and its viability in light of the incoming administration in Washington, D.C.

BQE Central runs from Atlantic Avenue to Sands Street and includes the crumbling Triple Cantilever, topped by the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.

At a live presentation in Downtown Brooklyn Tuesday evening and a virtual replay Wednesday morning, DOT’s Chief Strategy Officer Julie Bero and consultants from partner firms AKRF and the Parsons Corporation laid out the multi-step process required by the National Environmental Policy Act, from the starting point of the Notice of Intent, to the issuance of a final Environmental Impact Statement.

NEPA is an “umbrella” environmental review process which incorporates various analyses required by other laws and regulations such as the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, National Historic Preservation Act, state and local environmental laws and more, explained AKRF’s Chris Calvert.

There will be numerous studies carried out as part of the EIS process, DOT reps said. Public review will be required at two points along the way — during scoping, and at a public hearing on the Draft EIS. Bero said that lead agencies would host multiple public meetings and open houses to receive input, in addition to the Draft EIS hearing. (The entire presentation slide deck will be available in several days at nyc.gov/bqecentral.)

DOT’s Chief Strategy Officer Julie Bero led the Tuesday night’s presentation on the federal environmental review process for the BQE Central project. Photo: Vincent Barone, NYC DOT

‘Needs, Purposes and Objectives’ a sticking point

A fundamental part of the EIS process is a draft of the “Needs, Purposes and Objectives” of the proposed action. These lay out why the proposed project, with its environmental impacts, is being pursued and what goals must be accomplished.

DOT consultant Jamey Barbas, Parsons Corp.’s senior project manager for Complex Bridges and Tunnels, described the five main “needs” of the BQE Central reconstruction project, as defined by DOT.

– The need to address structural deterioration;

– The need to address geometric and operational deficiencies;

– The need to improve regional vehicular connectivity and mobility;

– The need to improve local vehicular connectivity and mobility;

– The need to improve bicycle and pedestrian connections across and along BQE Central.

Barbas emphasized that demand for trucking is only increasing, projecting a 68% growth between 2012 to 2045. While the city is exploring alternates to trucking on roads and highways like waterway deliveries, “The BQE remains a vital part of the city’s freight network,” she said.

Some audience members questioned DOT’s definition of “needs,” however, noting how “traffic-centric” they were.

“Purpose and needs are subject to change until we publish the draft EIS,” a DOT spokesperson said during the Q & A. “Provide your comment on the input form and we’ll look into whether to modify the purpose and need, but as Julie mentioned, there will be comprehensive studies.” He added that a “full range of alternatives” must be studied during the NEPA process.

DOT’s previous design ideas include The Terraces, The Lookout and The Stoop. No designs were presented at Tuesday’s presentation. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle

Officials ask city to drop plan and instead immediately patch highway

The massive project is running into bumpy waters with local officials, who sent out a joint letter on Dec. 9 to Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi formally requesting that DOT drop its current redesign process and instead develop a new BQE stabilization plan to “preserve the safety and integrity of the Triple Cantilever section for the next 15 to 20 years.”

The letter was signed by Representatives Dan Goldman and Nydia Velázquez, Sen. Andrew Gounardes, Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon and Councilmember Lincoln Restler.

“The city has presented tonight, with state and federal partners, that they are moving forward together on an environmental review process over the next 2 1/2 years,” Councilmember Lincoln Restler told the Brooklyn Eagle following the DOT presentation.

Project alternatives must meet needs and objectives as defined by DOT. Graphic: NYC DOT

“It seems to me that this is highly unrealistic, and considering the change in leadership in Washington, the lack of federal support that the city will be receiving on this project and the uncertainty at City Hall, I don’t currently understand this project’s path forward. And that’s why the officials at the city, state and federal level who represent the BQE wrote a letter yesterday to Deputy Mayor Joshi requesting a stabilization plan to ensure that the structure is safe and preserved while we work on a more realistic timeline for a longer-term solution,” he said.

While DOT has been carrying out interim repairs on the Triple Cantilever, a billion dollars in funding that was supposed to have be implemented for short term BQE repairs earlier in the Adams administration has been pushed off to the end of this decade, Restler said.

“That money should be available to us now to make those short-term repairs to stabilize the structure while we work through a longer-term, corridor-wide solution for the whole BQE, and divert freight, trucks, cars off of this highway to develop a solution that works for generations to come,” he added. “It seems like the city, state, and federal stakeholders here are working to re-create the BQE in perpetuity and I think our community expects better.”

An overview of the BQE’s two-year NEPA process. Graphic: NYC DOT

BHA supports electeds’ letter

“It doesn’t feel like they have been listening to the feedback they have been receiving at these meetings,” Brooklyn Heights Association Executive Director Lara Birnback told the Eagle. BHA is a member of a broad-based coalition of communities all along the entire BQE corridor working for a comprehensive plan.

“It certainly doesn’t feel from the community’s perspective that the feedback we’ve offered around wanting a corridor-wide vision, wanting something that responds to environmental imperatives and to environmental justice imperatives, has been taken into account,” she said. “And I think you can see that in the draft ‘purpose and needs’ that were articulated tonight. Almost everything was about throughput of vehicles, and how to make things easier for cars and trucks to get around the city. And that is not the position that the community has been expressing over the past period of engagement.”

Birnback said BHA has consistently been asking the city “to do the short-term repairs that are necessary to give 15 to 20 years of life for the cantilever, while a parallel process starts to envision a corridor-wide solution to the BQE that is environmentally conscious and that remediate the harms caused by the BQE when it was created.

“We are fully supportive of the letter that the electives just sent, articulating exactly that,” she added.

NEPA is defined as an “umbrella” environmental review process which incorporates various analyses required by other laws and regulations. Graphic: NYC DOT

Plan doesn’t protect Brooklyn Bridge Park, Promenade or Heights

“There is too much emphasis on regional transportation needs — for which better alternatives exist — and no mention of the need to protect Brooklyn Bridge Park and its 5 million annual users or the adjoining landmark residential neighborhoods. And there is no mention of the need to promote the transition away from private cars to transport commuters and from large trucks to deliver goods,” said a local civic leader who didn’t want their name used.

“It appears the needs and objectives for this once-in-a-lifetime project vary each time we meet with DOT,” said Linda DeRosa, president of the Willowtown Association. “After years of community engagement, are we any closer to a viable consensus? To start an EIS without a clear vision seems misguided.”

Others noted that DOT didn’t present actual design ideas or alternatives.

Project ‘needs,’ as defined by NYC DOT, were called too traffic-centric by some meeting participants. Graphic: NYC DOT

“I worked on a lot of projects that required an Environmental Impact Statement and in all of those cases, there was a clear alternative,” said Chris Bastian, Brooklyn Heights resident and retired transportation planner with the MTA. “You knew going in what it was and therefore you could speak thoughtfully about issues, environmental elements that need to be looked at, based on what the alternative is. They are not telling us what the alternatives are, because they know they are going to get a bad blowback from the community. It sounds like they are just going to bring back all those old alternatives they talked about before, none of which remotely developed community consensus.”

Bastian added, “None of this expresses a great vision that both Mayor de Blasio and Mayor Adams promised … The goal is largely to repair the highway, not to deal with the number of trucks on the highway, or the broader question of, do we need a highway? It’s, we’ve got a highway, it’s falling apart, it’s been falling apart for years, what do we have to do to fix it? And then, what can we do then to get perhaps some community buy-in by covering it with parkland or whatever.”

The presentation will be repeated virtually on Thursday, Dec. 12 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Please register in advance at bqevision.com/events