A Tunnel Under Downtown Brooklyn?
According to the Brooklyn Paper this morning, one of leading concepts for addressing the crumbling cantilevered stretch of the BQE that runs through Brooklyn Heights is the creation of a tunnel below Downtown Brooklyn. The 2.5-mile express route would connect the Prospect Expressway to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. While other variations on the tunnel theme…
According to the Brooklyn Paper this morning, one of leading concepts for addressing the crumbling cantilevered stretch of the BQE that runs through Brooklyn Heights is the creation of a tunnel below Downtown Brooklyn. The 2.5-mile express route would connect the Prospect Expressway to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. While other variations on the tunnel theme (like a connector between the Atlantic Avenue trench and either Park Avenue in Fort Greene or the BQE is South Williamsburg) have emerged, the paper calls the Navy Yard plan “a favorite.” If it happened, say supporters, the existing cantilevered stretch could become either a local road or even a public space a la Manhattan’s Highline. Waddya think?
State Considering Long Tunnel to Bypass BQE [Brooklyn Paper]
Nine Years Until It Will Be Impossible to Drive Downtown [Brownstoner]
Photo by J. Nordberg
Good idea as long as its paid for with toll revenue and not my taxes.
Just so we get things perfectly clear- just because something is a Parkway does not mean it is not a Highway- no where does the definition of highway say that it has to allow trucks. The FDR is very much so a highway and just because it doesn’t allow trucks and is considered a parkway does not mean that it’s not a highway. It has heavy car volume and it connects you to other roads and highways. The belt parkway- IS a highway. The garden state parkway- IS a highway.
I think the idea is to take both the Gowanus expressway and the Prospect expressway into a tunnel that will remove the hump and the cut in Cobble/Hill Carroll Gardens….so that the truck traffic from Staten Island would be included. The cost will be astronomical.
and the FDR isn’t a highway. Its a parkway(no trucks)…
Good idea? great idea if you can find someone to fund the 8-10 billion in costs…if not more.
Also I don’t think that you need to take much property by imminent domain…its mostly underground although you will need ventilation.
How about a special tax for the areas being bypassed….
I jumped in to correct the term “highway” because it’s the only hope of beating back the forces that are turning it into an expressway. In fact it is entitled to multiple protections because of its designations, but they’re only as good as the public effort to enforce them and take advantage of them. It’s important to make sure the knowledge is renewed so that each generation can carry the torch! My apologies for not being sarcastic!
…but 4th Ave gets used like one.
I guess the FDR Drive isn’t a highway either……..
Crackpipe idea. Prospect Expressway to the Navy Yard makes no sense. Most traffic coming from Staten Island, Southern State takes the Belt and Gowanus into the BQE. This plan doesn’t address any of that.
Burying the BQE from the Navy Yard to Sunset Park would be smarter, but that’ll never happen.
Congestion Pricing is a much better plan than a tunnel.
@manhattanite: if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…
Trust me my friend, I live here – it’s a highway in all regards except name. For what it’s worth, the Belt is also a ‘Parkway’, just like it’s Ocean brethren, and it’s certainly a highway. The other clue could be that it (not literally but practically) begins at a highway (the belt) and ends at a highway (the prospect expressway).
I guess Manhattanite has no sense of sarcasm- typical for a Manhattanite!