The Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) defines DUMBO’s easternmost boundary and is a vital transportation link for DUMBO businesses and residents. Because of this, the DNA has been deeply engaged in transportation issues overall, and for this road bed’s improvements, in particular. While the State DOT had taken the lead on the BQE and the triple cantilevered roadbed (TCR) repairs along Furman Street (in danger of literally falling down) in the early 2000s, the City took overall planning for needed repairs in 2017. The City’s plan, released in 2018, was unacceptable to local communities because it would have placed a six-lane highway on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade during repairs, and did not address the long-standing traffic issues associated with this roadbed.  

 The DNA has:

• Been a founding member of the BQE Community Advisory Council, organized by the State in 2006 to strategize repair options, and re-organized by the city to address the public’s outcry against the City’s Promenade highway plan.

• Remained supportive of the Cross-Brooklyn tunnel idea developed by the former President of the Cobble Hill Association, Roy Sloane, as it would help relieve the 24/7 traffic on this roadbed, provide a faster route to the bridge for trucks, enable carbon re-capture for a major portion of the 160,000 vehicles that use the TCR each day on their way to the Verrazano, provide a revenue stream to mitigate costs and enable the city to downgrade parts of the BQE to a parkway to fix the TCR in place with minimal disruption to our community. 

• Advocated for planning that takes into account the newly enlarged Kosiosko Bridge just five miles north which the city has ignored in many of its current (2019) alternatives to the Promenade Highway plan. 

• Continuously advocated for additional mitigation measures including two-way tolling of the Verrazano Bridge (soon to be a reality thanks to Congresswoman Velazquez’s bill in Congress in 2019). The DNA will continue to be engaged in the BQE, advocating for smarter solutions that address big problems and not just a band-aid approach to repairs.