Panel: Rebuild Brooklyn-Queens Expressway with fewer lanes

NEW YORK - An expert panel appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio in April 2019 is recommending major changes to the aging Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

Carlo Scissura, the panel's chairman, said the highway is in really bad shape and has only a few years left of useful life. He said the panel is recommending eliminating lanes and immediately repairing the cantilevered section in Brooklyn Heights. The panel advised reducing the six lanes to four—two in each direction. The experts said that would reduce traffic.

Scissura is calling on all three levels of government—city, state and federal—to come together and reconstruct the entire BQE, not just the 1.5-mile section in Brooklyn Heights.

The panel also recommended enforcing existing restrictions on overweight trucks, putting new restrictions in place, and adding sensors and ticketing drivers. The panel is also suggesting congestion pricing and split tolling on the Verrazzano Bridge to reduce the number of cars on the BQE.