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Mamdani Announces $4 Billion Plan to Repair City-Owned Stretch of the BQE

Using temporary two-level bypasses to preserve traffic flow, the city will begin environmental review this fall with funding still undecided.

When it comes to the BQE, Mayor Mamdani said the city is "done kicking the can down the road" — but critics charges he's doing exactly that.
Third Avenue is inhospitable to anyone not in a motor vehicle.
The city plans to build a temporary highway atop Furman Street in order to rebuild the adjacent triple-cantilver structure of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

Overview

  • Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled the $4 billion rehabilitation on Monday to repair the 1.5-mile city-owned “BQE Central” triple-cantilever and extend its life by about 40 years.
  • The DOT plans two temporary, two-level bypasses — one over Furman Street below the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and a second elevated route over the Brooklyn Bridge approach toward the Manhattan Bridge — and will keep the roadway at two lanes per level.
  • The city will start a City Environmental Quality Review this fall, pursue land-use and parkland alienation work through 2028, target bypass buildout around 2032, and aims for main construction to occur in the 2030s with a roughly 10-year schedule.
  • Funding remains unresolved as the city says some budget money exists and seeks to advance the project with minimal federal involvement to retain control over scope and schedule.
  • Advocates and local officials are split: critics warn the repair will entrench car- and truck-focused infrastructure for decades, while neighborhood leaders welcome short-term safety work but express concern about temporary highways, nearby parkland impacts, and truck and local-street traffic risks.