How Close Is the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to Collapse?

Are fears of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway’s imminent collapse unfounded? Yes and no, according to an article by Clio Chang in Curbed.

Sam Schwartz, former New York City traffic commissioner, who spoke with Chang, says “the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway is that it isn’t going to collapse in the way you think it might.” However, Chang explains that “the most distressed stretch — the triple cantilever that runs from Sands Street to Atlantic Avenue — is crumbling, which raises all kinds of other unhappy scenarios.”

Even small pieces of falling concrete could pose serious danger to people and cars below. Schwartz warns that “The most likely scenario that could cause a serious problem is a hole through the deck: in other words, a pothole that goes all the way through and a truck hits that and could lose control.”

The city has explored various plans to solve the problem, but for Schwartz, “The question is, Can they be built without disrupting the community to such an extent? Brooklyn doesn’t have any other truck-route expressways that go through it, so this is the only route from the western United States via the Verrazzano Bridge.”

According to Schwartz, “the city just needs to pick a plan and sort of go with it” before it’s too late. “I’m recommending fewer lanes and not encouraging car traffic. Congestion pricing will work, but I don’t see a way of taking this expressway out at this time.”