Transit & Streets Active Updated Aug 27, 2026
The BQE cantilever rebuild
Mayor Mamdani committed to rebuilding rather than tearing down the BQE's crumbling triple cantilever under Brooklyn Heights, a 10-year, up to $4 billion project with construction starting in 2030 and a temporary two-level bypass over Furman Street to keep traffic moving. The plan revives the Brooklyn Heights parkland fight that sank Mayor de Blasio's 2018 plan for a temporary highway across the Promenade, and needs a state parkland alienation bill because the bypass touches Squibb Park, Hillside Dog Park, Adam Yauch Park and part of Harry Chapin Playground.
The story so far
-
Aug 27, 2026 Latest
Local officials briefed four days before the BQE plan went public called the temporary bypass highways near Brooklyn Bridge Park 'invasive and disruptive,' and Brooklyn Paper reported the project will require both a ULURP land-use review and a state parkland alienation bill before construction can begin.
-
Aug 25, 2026
DOT's plan includes a second elevated bypass running from Columbia Heights to the Manhattan Bridge in addition to the Furman Street structure, and taking Brooklyn Bridge Park land for the bypasses requires a state parkland alienation bill needing Legislature and governor approval, giving Albany a veto alongside the City Council. DOT said delaying the project adds $160 million a year to its cost, and Brooklyn Heights Association executive director Lara Birnback backed finally fixing the crumbling structure.
-
Aug 24, 2026
Mayor Mamdani committed to rebuilding, rather than tearing down, the BQE's 0.4-mile triple cantilever between Atlantic Avenue and Sands Street, a 10-year project costing up to $4 billion that will erect a temporary bypass along Furman Street and extend the structure's life to about 2080, Gothamist and Streetsblog reported. The structure now carries 130,000 vehicles a day on a span built for about 50,000, and the city says it intends to fund the work without federal dollars.
Gothamist 
Streetsblog New York City 
6sqft 
Commercial Observer Follow this story as it moves.
The brief follows it every morning: when this storyline moves, the timeline above grows the same day. One short read, free, with the rest of New York explained alongside.
Free, every morning. Unsubscribe in one click.