It would upend lives, worsen congestion and temporarily close for years a cherished landmark — the Brooklyn Heights Promenade — that is known the world over for its sweeping views of the Manhattan skyline.
Now the project’s critics are taking a cue from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who called off the L train shutdown after assembling outside experts to come up with an alternative. Residents of Brooklyn Heights, one of the city’s most historic and affluent neighborhoods, are leveraging their skills, connections and considerable resources to find a less painful way to fix a crumbling stretch of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway that runs past their homes and serves as the base of the promenade.
The Brooklyn Heights Association, a leading neighborhood voice, has gone beyond simply attacking the city’s plans for the BQE to actually developing its own. The alternative plan is still largely an untested concept and would require extensive vetting, though the association did hire a consulting firm to do an initial review.
Even the association says its plan is not meant to be the only solution, but is intended to expand public discussion and challenge city officials to think more creatively about repairing a six-lane highway that carries 153,000 vehicles daily.
“It’s great to oppose something, but it’s always better to have something else to propose,” said Martha Bakos Dietz, a retired lawyer who is the association president.
Citing the averted L train shutdown, the association recently sent a letter to city transportation officials calling for a panel of outside experts to rethink the BQE project. “The parallels seem clear: Each project poses huge engineering challenges, and in each case, the government’s initial approach would impose unthinkably devastating consequences,” Dietz wrote.
The alternative is a rebuttal to two plans put forward by the city last fall to rebuild the BQE and the promenade that sits on top of it. They are physically joined together in a triple-cantilever structure that resembles a giant concrete wedding cake. Three lanes of traffic run on each of the two lower levels. The 1,825-foot walkway is the icing on top.
The first plan would replace the promenade with a temporary, elevated six-lane highway where traffic could be redirected from the lower levels while the triple cantilever is rebuilt. The second plan would take a piecemeal approach, closing some vehicle lanes and the promenade at any given time and rerouting traffic around construction.
Both plans have drawn fierce opposition from Brooklyn residents, especially the first one, which they say would bring a “promenade highway” with cars, trucks, and exhaust fumes right to their doors. These critics also say city officials have been so focused on rebuilding an outdated expressway — the triple cantilever section opened in 1954 — that they have failed to envision the possibility of anything different.
“The shame or tragedy of where we find ourselves is: Their mindset is to rebuild what was opened in 1954, and yet we all know that going forward, transportation needs are going to be vastly different,” said Richard F. Ziegler, a lawyer who has helped lead the association’s efforts. “They are being backward-looking instead of forward-looking.”
The association’s plan calls for building a temporary, two-tiered roadway alongside stretches of the BQE in a “parallel bypass method.” One stretch would run beside the promenade — instead of on top of it — on land that includes a parking lot and part of some berms on the eastern edge of Brooklyn Bridge Park.
That would allow the promenade to remain open during much of the construction, move vehicles on the BQE farther away from homes with the walkway serving as a buffer and reduce traffic backups, according to the plan’s supporters.
Hundreds of people, including City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer and Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams, recently rallied on the promenade against the city’s plans and called for a more transparent public process. An online petition urging the city to go back to the drawing board has been signed by more than 62,000 people.
The group behind the petition, A Better Way NYC, has grown to more than 750 volunteers and raised tens of thousands of dollars in donations to fund its campaign, which has included hiring lobbying and public relations firms as well as the Regional Plan Association, a transportation research and policy group, to analyze BQE traffic. “We want to be part of finding an innovative solution that leaves the city better off,” said Hilary Jager, a former assistant U.S. attorney who is part of the group.
The Brooklyn Heights Association plan was developed by Marc Wouters, an urban planner and architect who lives in the neighborhood.
Wouters did not provide a cost estimate, but said he expected it to be cheaper than the city’s plans, which are estimated to cost $3.2 billion to $4 billion.
Polly Trottenberg, the city transportation commissioner, said her agency was analyzing the association’s plan as it also continues to explore other options for rebuilding the BQE. “We’re working through the technical details, but we appreciate them putting it forward,” she said.
Trottenberg said she expects to end up with four to six options, which will be weighed in public discussions as part of a thorough review process that will last about two years. “We certainly acknowledge that the two we led with were extremely controversial,” she said.
In the spirit of the L train, Trottenberg added, “we too want to bring in a broader set of experts to look at this issue” and are open to “all kinds of new thinkers and voices.”
All three plans for the BQE would require state legislative approval for land use. The association’s plan, which could affect the berms in Brooklyn Bridge Park, would probably require additional state approvals. The berms shield the park from noise from the expressway and also anchor its landscape.
“We have questions and concerns about this proposal, but are involved in the discussion,” said Eric Landau, president of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation, which operates the park.
The other day, people strolling on the promenade said they supported any plan that would keep it open. “It’s New York City,” said Shaji Mathew, 56, as he took in the views. “You can see the water, the helipads and the high-rise buildings.”
Montserrat Vargas, an artist in Brooklyn Heights, said it was empowering for residents to be involved in what happens to the BQE and the promenade. “We as citizens can make things happen and can make change,” she said.
This is not the neighborhood’s first battle over the BQE. The association, which dates to 1910, once helped to thwart city planner Robert Moses’ effort in the 1940s to run the expressway through the heart of Brooklyn Heights.
Moses did not give up. He countered with a plan to build an elevated, six-lane expressway along the edge of Brooklyn Heights — similar to the city’s plan — noted Peter Bray, the association’s executive director. Residents again fought back. Moses eventually settled for a two-tiered highway that was covered over by the promenade to help contain the noise and pollution.
Now, all these years later, residents are again fighting that six-lane highway that Moses envisioned.
“His ghost is back,” Dietz said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.