B’klyn Heights Promenade could close to repair BQE

The Brooklyn Heights Promenade may be off limits when the city starts extensive repair work on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

Officials at the city Department of Transportation Thursday said they were exploring an “innovative” approach to repairing a 1.5-mile corridor on the BQE and its triple cantilever would force the promenade to close for six years, though it’ll save time, money and traffic headaches.

Unlike other major projects, where a temporary structure is built to carry traffic during repairs, that is not an option for the city, according to DOT officials.

“We can’t really put a highway right next to this one,” DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said. “The challenge we face is how really to completely replace, rehabilitate this aging, obsolete structure while trying not to create just terribly difficult, nightmarish traffic scenarios.”

The “innovative” construction concept would require a six-lane temporary elevated roadway that will require the closure of the promenade.

This method would cost up to $3.6 billion and likely be finished within six years.

The DOT plans to pitch the idea, and the need to lose the promenade for years on end, to residents.

The “traditional” approach fixing the Robert Moses-era BQE lane-by-lane could see construction lasting beyond eight years, costing up to $4 billion. It’ll also mean greater traffic disruptions.

“This is an epic challenge,” Trottenberg.