New BQE Repair Plan Keeps the Brooklyn Heights Promenade Open

New York City announced a $4 billion plan on 24 August 2026 to rebuild the crumbling stretch of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway that runs beneath the Brooklyn Heights Promenade — and, unlike earlier proposals, it is designed to keep the Promenade open and its views intact.

The 1.5-mile, city-owned section known as BQE Central runs between Atlantic Avenue and Sands Street. Its 70-year-old triple-cantilevered structure — the stacked roadway hidden under the Promenade — carries more than 150,000 vehicles a day. Instead of tearing it out, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn propose two temporary elevated bypasses: a two-level one along Furman Street below the Promenade, from Atlantic Avenue to Columbia Heights, and a second from Columbia Heights over the Brooklyn Bridge approach to the Manhattan Bridge. Built no higher than the existing Queens-bound level, the bypass would keep traffic moving while crews reinforce the structure, extending its life by 40 years.

This is a long project. Environmental review starts this autumn, with the impact statement due by summer 2028; construction would begin in 2030 and take about a decade. The city estimates every year of inaction adds around $160 million to the bill.

The contrast with the past is the real news. In 2018, the city's preferred option involved replacing the Promenade with a temporary highway for up to six years — an idea that met fierce local opposition. TravelHub's own sunset view from the Brooklyn Heights waterfront below shows exactly what that would have put at risk.