Expert Panel

In April 2019, the City announced an expert panel to comprehensively evaluate the BQE project. The panel is chaired by Carlo Scissura, President & CEO of The New York Building Congress. The panel will conduct an independent review of the project and issue recommendations. In order to facilitate sharing updates, this page will be updated with news shared by the panel.

On 1/30, the Panel released their report, read it here.

Background Documents Requested by the Panel


1/30/2020 Update from the Chair

Hello,

Over the past several months, the BQE Expert Panel has engaged in robust discussions with the New York City Department of Transportation, experts in various fields, elected officials and community representatives in order to conclude our work. As a result of these efforts, the Panel is recommending:

  • An immediate fix for the roadway, prioritizing the safety of the public, should begin now.  This is based on the Panel’s new, more precise data that suggests sections of the road may become unsafe and incapable of carrying current traffic within five years.
  • Actions to reduce traffic volumes and improve reliability - to extend the highway's life, reduce crashes and begin transitioning users to other routes or modes of transportation - must be undertaken right away.
  • Planning for a corridor-wide vision must begin now, incorporating modern transportation and sustainability ideals while balancing the physical needs of a deteriorating roadway, with the goal of a new, comprehensive road connecting Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens.

I invite you to read our final report.

This report – which identifies our findings and recommendations for next steps – marks the end of our time as a Panel, but the beginning of the work that must be done to address this problem for the next century. It will not be easy, and compromises will need to be made. Significant levels of investment will undoubtedly be required. But there is no choice. We must come together and act now. Kicking the can down the road is not an option.

I would like to especially thank NYC DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, her excellent staff and the consultants who helped the Panel over these past months. I’d also like to thank all the elected officials for their leadership and input throughout this process. Finally, I’ve been encouraged by the commitment and ideas expressed by community members and groups along the corridor and thank them for their participation.

I’m grateful to my fellow Panelists for their time and effort throughout these months. I look forward to working with them, the constituencies and communities they represent and many others in taking the foundation we present here and building on it in ways that allow the speedy delivery of a roadway for the next century.

Thank you for your continued involvement, and I look forward to staying in touch. As always, if you have questions please email me at carlo@buildingcongress.com.

Very truly yours,
Carlo


1/6/2020 Update from the Chair

Happy New Year!

As the BQE Project Expert Panel begins to conclude our work, I wanted to provide a quick update. The Panel has been hard at work on its final report and recommendations and we will ensure that elected officials, community groups and stakeholders have an opportunity to be briefed on the report in the coming weeks.

Thank you for your continued involvement, and I look forward to staying in touch as our work concludes. As always, if you have questions please email me anytime at carlo@buildingcongress.com

Very truly yours, Carlo


6/27 Update from the Chair

Hello,

As the BQE Project Expert Panel continues our work, I wanted to provide a quick update.

We recently convened a meeting with a number of community organizations and elected officials to lay out what we’ve done so far, the principles that will guide our work forward, and what some of our next steps look like.

You can find a PowerPoint outlining all of this here. I hope you’ll take a moment to look it over. If you have any feedback you’d like to share with the Panel, please use the comment form here and note it’s directed to the “Expert Panel.”

As always, full updates from the Panel can be found at this page.

Thank you for staying involved, and I look forward to staying in touch as our work progresses.

Sincerely, Carlo


5/15 Update from the Chair

Hello,

Last month, the City announced an expert panel to take a comprehensive look at the BQE project. As Chair of this panel, I’m encouraging out of the box thinking on the BQE project and I’m working with the panelists to take a look at many of the proposals that have been put forward, while also grappling with the complexities of doing a project of this size in this part of Brooklyn. As the panel continues, I’ll be sharing updates on our progress, which can be accessed at www.bqe-i278.com/en/expert-panel.

The panel has begun weekly meetings to tackle this project head-on. We’ve done some critical background work – becoming familiar with the various proposals on the table, site conditions, structural analysis, and traffic data. The panel has made a number of data requests from DOT, and will also be directly interacting with some of the project consultants. We’ve also toured the structure itself as well as the surrounding area. And we’ve been joined by representatives from a number of agencies that have shared information about their adjacent facilities that will have an impact on the project, including the MTA New York City Transit, Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation, and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Parks Department, and City Planning Department.

Community organizations and the local elected officials have been a critical part of making this panel a reality, so it was important that the panel also met first-hand with a variety of project stakeholders, including civic associations from Vinegar Hill, to DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, and beyond. We enjoyed our first roundtable with community leaders and elected officials, and will be planning another one soon. We’ll also be inviting stakeholders to tour the project site in the coming weeks.

It’s clear we have a lot of work ahead of us, but I have been encouraged to hear a variety of discussion from panelists and community members alike – from structural and engineering ideas, to critical questions about underlying traffic assumptions.

We welcome any feedback you’d like to share – please use the DOT webform here and note it is for the panel. You can also reach me to share any feedback at 212-213-2434. Thank you for staying so involved in this project, and I look forward to working together to make sure we create the best project possible.

Sincerely,
Carlo



Carlo A. Scissura, Esq.
Chair, BQE Expert Panel
President & CEO, New York Building Congress


Executive Order
Press Release
Brooklyn-Queens Expressway Expert Panel Report
Presentations
- Marc Wouters/Brooklyn Heights Association (BHA) Proposal
- Bjarke Ingles Group (BIG) Proposal
- City Comptroller Stringer’s Proposal
- Regional Planning Association (RPA) Study
- June 27 Panel Presentation