BQE planned construction could close Brooklyn Heights Promenade for years

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A reconstruction project on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway may disrupt an entire neighborhood for half a dozen years or more.

The BQE is being replaced between Atlantic Avenue and Sands Street in the Brooklyn Heights section of the borough.

As of now, you can walk around the Brooklyn Promenade and take in the sights. But is one of two plans to overhaul the stretch of highway is selected, the park would become part of the BQE.

The city’s Department of Transportation released its roughly $3.5 billion draft plan Thursday night for the desperately needed repairs to a 1.5 mile stretch of the road.

There are two options and the first would be to temporarily elevate the roadway. This would close the promenade and divert cars there for six years.

The DOT said this is the most thorough option, and it means closing the promenade for three years.

A second option would be make repairs lane-by-lane. The process would most likely snarl traffic for eight years, but the promenade would be mostly unaffected.

The DOT said the lane-by-lane method would require overnight construction and would result in fewer overall improvements.

“Promenade’s really iconic and people really find pleasure in coming down here every day,” said one resident.

She added that traffic is already awful on the BQE and questioned how much worse it could get.