Dear Commissioner Rodriguez:

Regional Plan Association (RPA) has a long history of planning and advocating for the region’s transportation infrastructure, including the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) and its impact in the region. In particular, we have learned that infrastructure to support the efficient movement of people and goods must also consider the impacts to public health, keeping communities connected, and protecting the environment.

We applaud the Mayor’s efforts to have a more comprehensive community engagement process for the BQE rehabilitation project. It has been clear that NYCDOT is taking public feedback seriously. Ideally, this planning would advance through a joint City and State governing body, as previously proposed, so that mobility, land use, urban design and community health can be appropriately addressed.

As part of this continued engagement, RPA respectfully requests further consideration of the following elements of the City’s rehabilitation plan:

Highway On/Off Ramps: Opportunities to close ramps should be studied as part of the final design, with a focus on how these closings could improve regional traffic patterns and public spaces. The study should specifically include analyses of the elimination of 1.) the Atlantic Avenue entrance to the BQE; 2.) the east-bound BQE entrance onto the Brooklyn Bridge; and 3.) the west-bound BQE Vine Street ramp. Additionally, any proposals to construct new ramps, such as a new flyover from the Manhattan Bridge to BQE, would need to explain how they will not worsen regional traffic patterns or unfairly impact local communities.

Impact to Local Street Network: While local congestion has increased along the corridor since the two-lane conversion in 2021, the study should explain in detail the origin and destination of this traffic and how traffic patterns have changed since the onset of the pandemic. Given the drastic changes in regional mobility patterns and volume, a better understanding of what type of movements are contributing to the increased congestion will help find solutions that may require regional intervention or policies that spur large-scale changes to consumer behavior.

Lane Reduction: In 2019, RPA produced a report, Reimagining the BQE, in which we recommended lane reduction to reduce the flow of traffic as both a way to reduce the physical demand on the roadway and as a step towards decreasing our dependence on private vehicle transport. Subsequent analysis from Sam Schwartz Engineering for the City’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on the BQE validated our conclusions. Our report specifically recommended that lane reduction be implemented in conjunction with other policies, which could include the implementation of congestion pricing to eliminate toll shopping. The City embraced RPA’s recommendations in reducing lanes between Atlantic Avenue and the Brooklyn Bridge in 2021. Since the two-lane proposal has now been put into effect, DOT should consider the current lane configuration to be the ​“no build” scenario for any future analysis. Therefore, the analysis must consider the capital costs associated with adding lanes to the current configuration.

Re-consider the Impact of Congestion Pricing: In our 2019 report Congestion Pricing in NYC: Getting it Right, RPA made several recommendations about how best to implement congestion pricing. These included eliminating toll shopping by equalizing costs for drivers into the district; implementing a variable congestion charge that was in alignment with the level of congestion throughout the day and by size of vehicle; and exempting taxis or for hire vehicles from an additional charge to enter the congestion zone. While recognizing that the implementation of congestion pricing falls under a different authority, we urge DOT to study the potential impact of congestion pricing on the BQE. If congestion fees were equalized for all Manhattan crossings, it would likely lead to a reduction in the number of trips on the central portion of the BQE, as many of those drivers are avoiding other tolled routes. This was not a scenario that was modeled for the MTA’s environmental impact assessment but could be implemented and must be considered in the DOT analysis. Although the current scenarios identified in the environmental assessment of the congestion pricing program propose varied tolling scenarios, we urge the City to coordinate with the MTA in calibrating the transportation model and analysis to better understand the full range of impacts that congestion pricing could have on BQE traffic patterns.

Reducing environmental harm to communities and reducing the City’s contribution to carbon emissions from transportation infrastructure must be a priority for everyone. Getting once-in-a-generation projects right brings us closer to meeting state climate sustainability and carbon reduction goals. These benefits are regional and the solutions require a level of creativity and courage through leadership. We have a genuine chance to have an incredible impact, inspire change in the transportation landscape, and learn from past mistakes–we should not waste this opportunity.