NYC Roads

[Plutonic Panda]

Hundreds of millions for Long Island repaving and bridges:

https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-146-million-major-paving-and-bridge-projects-beginning-month-long

[Rothman]

Hundreds of millions for Long Island repaving and bridges:

https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-announces-146-million-major-paving-and-bridge-projects-beginning-month-long

Well, less than $200m, anyway.  Interesting how the projects are described.  Some of these, given the cost per lane mile are "paint it black" or basic resurfacing projects.

Seems to all be good preventative/corrective maintenance stuff.

[vdeane]

I can't believe that I've kept forgetting to post this, but there are now those who want to just let the BQE fail so that it can go the way of the West Side Highway - and they're looking at tearing down the whole, thing, not just the triple cantilever.

Nobody knows what to do about the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway's triple cantilever. The decaying structure, which carries highway traffic beneath the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, has outlived its 50-year lifespan by two decades. Residents of Brooklyn Heights defeated a proposed fix because it would have shut down the promenade for several years and cost upwards of $4 billion. Eric Adams spent the last months of his abbreviated mayoralty begging the federal government for help.

To buy time, the city has limited traffic, installed weight sensors and fastened steel mesh sheets at weak points along the triple cantilever's underbelly to prevent crumbling concrete from falling onto the windshields of drivers below. The highway continues to shake and groan of old age.

Half a century ago, city officials and local activists reached a similar impasse around the future of the old West Side Highway, another elevated structure built by Robert Moses. Today, a movement in favor of tearing down the BQE altogether — and not just the triple cantilever, but rather the whole stretch from the Verrazano to the Kosciuszko — is gaining momentum. All that space, the argument goes, could be used for something better: a mix of housing, parks and transit that reconnects severed neighborhoods back into the street grid.

The argument deserves to be taken seriously. Indeed, the same strain of community organizing that saved the promenade could bring down the BQE for good. The only caveat: the BQE, like the old West Side Highway, would have to fail first.

Full article: https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/06/25/how-the-bqe-could-fall

[The Ghostbuster]

Move all traffic on the BQE to the surrounding surface streets. When the local residents complain, tell them: "Shut up! You preferred this to reconstructing the BQE! It's your own damn fault!"

[SignBridge]

Wouldn't the Federal Government have something to say about any decision to shut down an Interstate Highway? Maybe threaten to withhold funding if a reasonable solution was not reached..

[vdeane]

Wouldn't the Federal Government have something to say about any decision to shut down an Interstate Highway? Maybe threaten to withhold funding if a reasonable solution was not reached..

If it's an emergency closure there's not much they'd be able to do to stop that part.  I doubt they'd push hard specifically for reopening under most administrations, either; it would be far from the first interstate removed.  That said, currently FHWA is more car-aligned than is typical.

(personal opinion)

[Rothman]

Wouldn't the Federal Government have something to say about any decision to shut down an Interstate Highway? Maybe threaten to withhold funding if a reasonable solution was not reached..

Pfft, no.

Could affect future funding if the BQE was formally removed and federal transportation bills going back to updating data in the old formulas rather than carrying state apportionments proportionally like has been done for over a decade now...

...but Interstate designations in NYC are very complicated, with some shielded Interstates not being eligible for a 90% federal share (or, back in the day, the old Interstate Maintenance funding altogether).  Had someone in Region 11 go through it with me years ago and I've forgotten what's what.  So, may not affect overall funding after all.

[vdeane]

Wouldn't the Federal Government have something to say about any decision to shut down an Interstate Highway? Maybe threaten to withhold funding if a reasonable solution was not reached..

Pfft, no.

Could affect future funding if the BQE was formally removed and federal transportation bills going back to updating data in the old formulas rather than carrying state apportionments proportionally like has been done for over a decade now...

...but Interstate designations in NYC are very complicated, with some shielded Interstates not being eligible for a 90% federal share (or, back in the day, the old Interstate Maintenance funding altogether).  Had someone in Region 11 go through it with me years ago and I've forgotten what's what.  So, may not affect overall funding after all.

IIRC it was I-495 from I-278 to I-678 (listed as NY 495 in the state touring route book).  Sadly, the old functional class viewer is no longer available, and the link now points to the RIS shapefiles on the GIS Clearinghouse.

[crispy93]

Anyone have any news about the Cross Island at the LIE? I drove through the interchange on Saturday, and the southbound mainline has been reduced to 2 lanes, with a new "added lane" from the eastbound LIE restoring the lane after the interchange. So the right lane is an unsigned Exit Only. Though that ramp is congested 24/7 (often backing up to the Throgs Neck) and someone was always cutting in at the last second, so it was functionally an Exit Only. 

They should extend the on-ramp from 25A and create an aux lane for 495 to queue and exit. I feel that would alleviate many of the southbound delays.

[Mergingtraffic]

The new 4th lane from I-295 to Springfield Blvd is now open on I-495 East.  Traffic wasn't used to it yet, it seems, as traffic was merging right away, quickly, from I-295 rather than using the extra space provided by the lane.

I noticed I-95 NB at Exit 8, the Pelham Pkwy exit, still backs up baaaad.  IDK what was the point of that project, it seemed to favor the on ramp rather than fix the mainline.  I still say extend the 4th lane up to the Hutch.  IDK why that wasn't done.  Makes no sense whatsoever.

[crispy93]

While in Manhattan yesterday, I noticed they reduced the FDR north down to two lanes at 96 St, allowing the on-ramp from 96th to join as an added lane.

I suspect it's to reduce congestion on 96th itself since there was no acceleration lane, so the ramp was perpetually congested. You also had to merge on a curved hill, so the crash rate was probably not great either