STATUS
IDEA
The Brooklyn Queens Expressway Triple-Cantilever and viaduct is a 6-lane highway structure running 1.5 miles through the Brooklyn Heights and Dumbo neighborhoods of New York City. The iconic piece of NYC infrastructure has accommodated traffic for more than 60 years. As the structure shows signs of corrosion and aging, NYC has taken on the challenge of repairing the roadway, spanning from Sands Street in DUMBO to Atlantic Avenue in Cobble Hill.
As a contribution to the public conversation, BIG developed the BQP – turning the BQ-Expressway into a BQ-Park, while still accommodating significant vehicle flows along the route. The BQP provides a platform for adding significant new parkland along an underused corridor, while connecting Brooklyn Heights to Brooklyn Bridge Park with a preserved or re-constructed cliffside – crisscrossed by rampways, greenery, and park amenities. Read more about the proposal here.
BIG proposes for local park access to be accommodated on a meandering parkway, while space is created for a potential public transit corridor. The project extends south to Atlantic Avenue – where it creates a new crossing and urban nexus, and the beginnings of a linear park which could eventually connect DUMBO to Red Hook.
The simple structural approach, and one-time construction of the new roadway, creates a less costly solution for reconstruction of the BQE, while delivering far more benefits to its considerable city-wide usership – improving health outcomes for all those around it, and serving as a model for future aging infrastructure across New York City’s five boroughs.
By helping to link the waterfront, the plan will strengthen the emerging live-work corridor along the East River, providing better access to residents across neighborhoods, and help to support a growing Brooklyn economy.
Significant outreach with community groups, elected officials, city, and state agencies has been undertaken to inform the BQP concept. This has included over 50 public meetings, briefings, and workshops since February of 2019.
BQE Existing Condition
Mixed-Use Amenities
Vertical Recreation
Integrated Parking
Replace Structure | Parking + Park
The BQP concept creates a better connected, and bigger, Brooklyn Bridge Park. The exposed highway along the back of Brooklyn Bridge Park is relocated underneath an immersive new extension of activity and nature!
Today’s gap between the city and the waterfront…is transformed into a showcase moment for NYC.
A compromised connection between downtown Brooklyn and the waterfront becomes a welcoming threshold into the park, revealing generous views of the harbor and city skyline.
Over time, a corridor-wide study should determine future needs for rehabilitation or replacement, and identify opportunities for equitable urban improvements along the BK waterfront.
A technical study has been undertaken to determine and address the nature of any conflicts with existing infrastructure and landowners. In February of 2020, owing to this pro-bono BQP effort, the NYC Department of Transportation officially shelved previous plans, and an official New York City Council study endorsed the BQP approach, with City Council Speaker Corey Johnson stating “This is something we’re going to live with for the next 100 years. Let’s make sure we do it right”. Work is now set to begin on establishing a governance structure to take the project forward.
Bjarke Ingels Kai-Uwe Bergmann Martin Voelkle Jamie Maslyn Larson Veronica Acosta Terrence Chew Autumn Visconti Jeremy Alain Siegel Douglas Breuer Stephanie Bigelow
AWARDS
ASLA NY Honor Award, Un-Built Projects, 2020 AIA NY - ASLA NY Projects Citation Transportation + Infrastructure Design Excellence Awards, 2019
COLLABORATORS
Regional Plan Association
Arcadis-US
Nova Concepts
