Why The I-278 Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in NEW YORK is FALLING APART And They Can't Fix It

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Mileage Mike

Mileage Mike

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 678
@teddynielsen
@teddynielsen Жыл бұрын
As someone who grew up in New York, people often have to be forced to do something here so unfortunately the collapse scenario appears to be what will be necessary to trigger the city to rebuild it.
@davik9003
@davik9003 Жыл бұрын
Would be disaster case scenario if they just replace it. That shit doesn't make sense and needs to be deleted.
@oceanthresher6184
@oceanthresher6184 Жыл бұрын
Needs to be demolished and replaced with train lines, not another expressway.
@redforman2999
@redforman2999 Жыл бұрын
@@oceanthresher6184 makes no sense because that would make so much more traffic on the streets and many of these neighborhoods between don’t have trains to begin with and they won’t and it could take 30 years to create new underground lines , my neighborhood doesn’t have a train but atleast I have a highway close , many places in queens don’t have subway
@teddynielsen
@teddynielsen Жыл бұрын
@@oceanthresher6184 There is or maybe I should say was a plan for a waterfront light rail line between Sunset Park in Brooklyn and Long Island City/Astoria in Queens. I think the original plan was to run it along Furman Street (serving Brooklyn Bridge Park) which runs underneath this section of the BQE. They later decided to change the alignment to serve the Borough Hall area via Atlantic Avenue and possibly Court Street. They thought this would be a better alignment since it would’ve allowed the line to connect with several subway lines at Borough Hall.
@BRYCONIC
@BRYCONIC Жыл бұрын
I love nyc but knew I wasn't crazy! Been here 8 years and yes it's astounding to see that kind of mindset in real time
@MIYDNA
@MIYDNA Жыл бұрын
I'm almost 50, and lived next to the BQE/I-278 all through my childhood. Crews have been repairing this road my entire life. I have never not seen it under construction or repair.
@notme123
@notme123 7 ай бұрын
2 seasons in Chicago: Winter & construction.
@JordanDinRI
@JordanDinRI Жыл бұрын
As someone that grew up in Queens, this video hits the nail on the head. Just steer clear of the BQE if you can!!
@redforman2999
@redforman2999 Жыл бұрын
As someone who lives in queens and has no subway in his neighborhood , it’s still very useful for us the forgotten nyers who won’t have a subway anytime soon here , let us atleast have the option to sit in traffic then take side roads that will taken even longer if the bqe didn’t exist , imagine all the trucks that would congest side streets even more
@Demopans5990
@Demopans5990 Жыл бұрын
@@redforman2999 A good 1 or 2 subway line directly connecting Brooklyn and Queens is long overdue. And no, the G doesn't count
@JordanDinRI
@JordanDinRI Жыл бұрын
@@redforman2999 I grew up in one of those Queens neighborhoods too. It was either take a 25 minute bus ride, just to get to a subway or get in the car and drive.
@L.M.Dilegame
@L.M.Dilegame Жыл бұрын
A few years ago during the peak of rush hour on a Friday evening, a contractor's assistant decided to perform an experiment and get out of the van and walk along the side of the expressway from downtown Brooklyn to the Kosciuszko bridge, a nearly 3 mile distance. The assistant not only walked there faster, but had to wait nearly 45 minutes for the van to catch up to them! There are viable solutions to this repair but politics will continue to intervene until there is no choice but to undergo it. Perhaps it will see a solution beforehand.
@manfredmann2766
@manfredmann2766 Жыл бұрын
😂, well not really, I thought about that scenario many times over 30 years ago, when I last lived in the metro NY area. Even in the 70s and 80s that expressway was a parking lot.
@NuNugirl
@NuNugirl Жыл бұрын
It’s going to take a Presidential order, just like when Obama ordered the TZ to be taken down. You’ll see, it’s going to happen.
@stevenlitvintchouk3131
@stevenlitvintchouk3131 Жыл бұрын
I used to drive the BQE in the 1970s. I was taking night classes, and during the bad old 1970s, riding the subway that late at night was scary. I got to meet some "interesting" people on the subway, but I was always glad to get home in one piece. Yes, even at 11 pm, the BQE was a bottleneck.
@andrewreinwand4942
@andrewreinwand4942 Жыл бұрын
It forever blows my mind how many sections of highways (anywhere, not just the ones shown in this video) don’t have a shoulder/breakdown lane. I can’t think of a worse situation to break down in than that type of area.
@rpvitiello
@rpvitiello Жыл бұрын
Almost the entirety of the NYC metro area does not have shoulders. They were all built before the interstate highway system was even though of.
@AdamSmith-gs2dv
@AdamSmith-gs2dv Жыл бұрын
These roads were built before we even knew how helpful a shoulder was.
@Not_Sal
@Not_Sal Жыл бұрын
@@rpvitiellonot true. The majority of NYC’s highways do have shoulders. It’s just that there’s specific areas that don’t.
@buckykattnj
@buckykattnj Жыл бұрын
Well, look at it this way... There is no breakdown lane... until someone breaks down. Then there is a breakdown lane and one less travel lane. During much of the day, traffic moves so slow that being broken down in a travel lane isn't as dangerous as it would be on an actual highway moving at the speed limit. I've come across broken down cars on the BQE during peak traffic, and it's remarkable how smooth the locals can be about squeezing past it without much of a delay added to the bumper to bumper crawl.
@A.Martin
@A.Martin Жыл бұрын
some may have had shoulders when they were built like 2 lanes and a shoulder, then the shoulder got turned in to another lane.
@Jabid21
@Jabid21 Жыл бұрын
BQE used to be terrible at the old Kosciuszko bridge crossing between Brooklyn and Queens before it got replaced by 2 newer cable stayed bridge. Traffic still backs up at the bridge so I guess the old bridge wasn't as big a bottleneck as it was made to be. The cantilevered section at Brooklyn Heights is a whole another animal. I ended up spending an hour stuck there one time after the lane reduction.
@buckykattnj
@buckykattnj Жыл бұрын
Anytime you have some lanes merging, you are going to get some delays... but 4 lanes in either direction is lightyears ahead of the old 3 narrow lanes in either direction. In the early 90s when I first started making occasional trips over the bridge, it was a parking lot... all day long... miles before you got to the bridge... when you were on the bridge, you got lots of time to look at the holes in the bridge that you could see through to the water below. I can't believe the old bridge didn't self demolish well before 2017.
@yann9378
@yann9378 Жыл бұрын
The traffic builds up on Kosciuszko as a result of the lane reductions on the cantilevered section and Brooklyn bridge.
@bongwelll
@bongwelll Жыл бұрын
I heard them blow the old bridge. Me and my girl used to walk over the new bridge all the time.
@davec3400
@davec3400 Жыл бұрын
Most of the delay now is from the exit ramp on the west bound side down to Meeker Ave. The exit lane gets backed up and people decide to merge in late to skip the wait and slow down one or two more lanes of thru traffic.
@Jabid21
@Jabid21 Жыл бұрын
There are multiple bottlenecks on the BQE especially on the west bound side. Meeker Ave, Metropolitan Ave and Wythe Ave exits backs up because of the traffic light right at the end of the exit and the cycle is notoriously short to let any meaningful number of cars pass. The lane reduction wouldn’t ideally be an issue as the lane reduces to 2 at Tillary St but the heavy merge of traffic getting on the BQE west from Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges chokes off that section.
@OscarGarcia-sk8px
@OscarGarcia-sk8px Жыл бұрын
The BQE has a special place in my memory. My father decided to let me drive on the BQE as an introduction to expressway driving. It was a white knuckle ride but I survived.
@EsDriving
@EsDriving Жыл бұрын
278 through staten island is a parking lot during daylight.
@Markkos1992
@Markkos1992 Жыл бұрын
Actually the new six-lanes Goethals Bridge actually makes that section of I-278 drivable IMO. Before that...
@Silas.Marner
@Silas.Marner Жыл бұрын
The 405 Freeway out in LA: "hold my beer" 😂
@XxMidnightToker420xX
@XxMidnightToker420xX Жыл бұрын
As a fellow staten islander I can't tell you how much it fucking sucks tryna get around this island during the day
@Markkos1992
@Markkos1992 Жыл бұрын
@@XxMidnightToker420xX I am sure it is awful. My point is that I-278 there these days is great compared to the rest of it.
@buckykattnj
@buckykattnj Жыл бұрын
I drive from Atlantic City to Brooklyn on the regular... and always laugh because we consider SI to be "halfway there", as there are times that Outerbridge to Brooklyn takes almost as long as AC to Outerbridge. That said, the work they have done to the SIE and Goethals has been a big improvement... now redo the West Side Expressway to 6 lanes and Outerbridge. Oh, and finish the War Vets to connect to the SIE. ;-) Or better yet, get working on that flood barrier/highway going from Sandy Hook to Breezy Point, so freight can bypass most of the whole NYC mess.
@mdelriobklyn
@mdelriobklyn Жыл бұрын
The reduction from 3 lanes to 2 a couple of years ago has had a permanent effect of making that section of the BQE permanently slow. Before that, it was possible to sometimes zip through the BQE during off hours. Now that is never possible. And since there is no good alternative for trucks, this will have to be addressed somehow. I'd hate to wait for a collapse because it may take longer than people expect and the quality of life has seriously degraded. I used to visit the Bronx from lower Brooklyn each weekend, and the alternative would be to pay a toll and use the Battery Tunnel to go into Manhattan and take the FDR drive into the Bronx. But for many people that's a burdensome extra expense. By subway, that trip takes close to 2 hours, so if I couldn't drive, I wouldn't have gone. On the best of days that trip would take about 45 minutes with light traffic, and those days are gone.
@geardo3635
@geardo3635 Жыл бұрын
Thanks to the history of Moses vs locals, NYC has all its messed up highways. About this one section, I have also heard of a plan for a tunnel under the neighborhood to replace the decks.
@DTD110865
@DTD110865 Жыл бұрын
And it was the locals that messed up those highways. The Bushwick Expressway and Cross Brooklyn Expressway could've brought a lot of relief to both the BQE and Belt Parkway. But everyone rejected them and accused Robert Moses of building highways for racism. Now you see the result. It's the same in all the boroughs and the suburbs.
@geardo3635
@geardo3635 Жыл бұрын
@@DTD110865 I partly agree but some things Moses and government did made no sense at all. I could find and show a map of his plans for Staten Island some of it kinda made sense but some parts did not. For example, he wanted highways on every shore, some of the people who would have had to move were not just non-white, there were a lot fo whites who would have to move too. The planned but never built routes that would have followed the North and South shores were actually redundant given other routes that still exist or were planned. The city also had plans that Moses had nothing to do with such as a connector between an existing highway and one Moses had planned, the routes were very close at this point and there was no need for the connector, it made no sense.
@theCODproduction1
@theCODproduction1 Жыл бұрын
@@DTD110865shut up
@KrashFries
@KrashFries Жыл бұрын
As a Philly suburbanite, my favorite alternative route to I-95/278 through NYC is taking US 202 up to I 287 in Somerville NJ. There’s a lot of relatively speedy bypasses in that corridor even if it’s not traffic light free, and on a bad day for NYC it can even bee the faster option. It’s admittedly not practical for every trip since I 287 mostly bypasses the city, but when it’s practical it’s a lot more pleasant to drive than the turnpike. Besides, New Hope-Lambertville is a lovely detour through two very beautiful towns.
@timbo303official9
@timbo303official9 Жыл бұрын
I dont understand why they dont upgrade us 206 to i 287 in some divided highway or freeway status it can be useful to get around the neglected area there and also be helpful to get to montreal
@KrashFries
@KrashFries Жыл бұрын
@@timbo303official9 because that would essentially provide a free alternative to the turnpike (I 295 to US 1 in Trenton to US 206 in Princeton) and upset people in Princeton. this was essentially the plan for the Somerset freeway before new jersey scrapped it. the US 22 corridor where there would be an interchange is also quite developed so i can’t see people being happier about that.
@ycplum7062
@ycplum7062 Жыл бұрын
Going through NYC is not a short cut. It makes no sense to into NYC unless you are trying to get to NYC or to Nassau or Suffolk County (where you really don't have miuch of a choice).
@mpd2022
@mpd2022 Жыл бұрын
​@@timbo303official9 Funny you mention that. Part of the influence as to why there's a somewhat random Tim Horton's on the Somerville Circle is due to the number of Canadians that pass through the area lol. Also, there was supposed to be a highway that did that, the Somerset Freeway, which would've brought i-95 from Pennington to 287 somewhere around exit 10, but it was cancelled due to NIMBYs. As a result, 206 from Somerville to 295 has been s-l-o-w-l-y upgraded and bypassed in spots. It took 40 years for the 206 bypass in Hillsborough to finally finish and open, and now the second widening phase has been delayed an additional 2 years back to 2026 for completion because the state had to fire the contractor last month. It's a mess.
@manfredmann2766
@manfredmann2766 Жыл бұрын
When I visit family in both CT and NJ, that 287 is a lifesaver, when I had to go from Norwalk CT to Freehold, NJ. Remembered years ago when it’s northernmost point in NJ was not much past I-80. Also, the Garden State Parkway would backup all the time, even though it was the more direct route.
@Aporter54
@Aporter54 Жыл бұрын
Fascinating. One of the unspoken problems is that NYC is far older than most other cities with big expressway systems, and it's just not feasible to retrofit a multi-lane system into our 350-year-old city. Houston's population in 1950 was 600K; LA in 1950 was 2M. Both cities had vast undeveloped spaces, unlike NYC, so it was much easier to build expressway systems there.
@calvinsmith6681
@calvinsmith6681 Жыл бұрын
The thing people have to remember about NYC is that it's big, dense, geographically diverse, and really really old. Getting *anything* done is hard. Not to mention it also gets punishing winters. I'm not surprised that they've struggled to find a solution to their highway problems. If you ask me, a good place to start would be requiring all thru traffic going from the Mid Atlantic to New England and vice versa to use I-287.
@juice-opinion
@juice-opinion Жыл бұрын
europe would like a word
@Skarmy762
@Skarmy762 Жыл бұрын
New York taxes and spends but can't fix its infrastructure. Look at the state of the MTA, it's a disaster.
@rpvitiello
@rpvitiello Жыл бұрын
That’s all BS excuses. Places like London despite being older or Montreal despite worse weather can all build infrastructure cheaper, faster, and better than NYC. This highway realistically should be 12 lanes wide like the NJ turnpike, as the ONLY interstates highway in the area. By all means build it all under a park so you don’t see it, but the population keeps going up and they want to make the only real highway even smaller.
@edwardmiessner6502
@edwardmiessner6502 Жыл бұрын
@@rpvitiello Of course 12 would really be 20 since the Feds will insist on a breakdown lane on each side of each of 4 roadways.
@calvinsmith6681
@calvinsmith6681 Жыл бұрын
@@rpvitiello do you know what ancient cities like London and Paris don’t have running through the heart of them? Freeways. Because they weren’t stupid enough to carve their cities up just for the sake of people owning cars. A 12 lane interstate through the heart of any major city let alone New York is a ludicrous proposition. It’s a total non-starter, and the idea that there’s just endless amounts of money for the city and state to do whatever they want is equally ludicrous. NYSDOT has to spread what meager budget they get from Albany over the entire state, and NYCDOT has to do the same with all of the city, and let’s not forget the city controls all four of the major bridges crossing the East River which coincidentally also happen to be the oldest bridges in use. Major transit projects like this are always ridiculously expensive, just look at the Big Dig in Boston. If you wanna propose a 12 lane interstate to the people of NYC by all means be my guess. I’ll be there to watch you get laughed out of the room.
@mikewhitley6769
@mikewhitley6769 Жыл бұрын
There is no easy solution but I'd have to say more than likely they are gonna wait until it collapses before anything is done to correct it hopefully nobody is hurt or killed if there is a catastrophic event
@MileageMike485
@MileageMike485 Жыл бұрын
Yeah unfortunately that’s what I think will happen.
@ace20016
@ace20016 Жыл бұрын
Same thought.
@edwardmiessner6502
@edwardmiessner6502 Жыл бұрын
Same thought but I have a suspicion that a dangerous cargo will be triggered by the collapse when it happens ☹️
@marbledillon
@marbledillon Жыл бұрын
I’m in New York and this is exactly what will happen. Nothing will be done until it collapses or it’s structurally unsafe completely.
@A.Martin
@A.Martin Жыл бұрын
with how busy it is, there will be multiple fatalities.
@AB365_Official
@AB365_Official Жыл бұрын
8:49 People need to stop saying that critical interstate infrastructure should be replaced with bike and walking friendly boulevards that always have sunshine and rainbows. Because the real world doesn't work like that. And like you said if it wasn't critical to the economy of the city, like the Embarcadero Freeway or the West Side Highway, it wouldn't be a problem. However, ideas like this and a similar one when it comes to discussing the traffic of I-35 in Austin, it's just a terrible idea through and through. We. Need. Roads.
@edramirez1240
@edramirez1240 Жыл бұрын
The BQE has always been a mess. The section underneath the promenade literally bounces with the traffic.
@johnkeller2952
@johnkeller2952 Жыл бұрын
My take away from this is: the BQE will unfortunately eventually collapse
@adamp4155
@adamp4155 Жыл бұрын
Someone will have to die before it gets fixed and maybe not even then. That’s how things work now.
@RestitutorEuropa
@RestitutorEuropa Жыл бұрын
That is the nature of politics. Catastrophic events have to happen to get anything done.
@Lolerstomp
@Lolerstomp Жыл бұрын
As a lifelong New Yorker and someone that drives on the BQE and Van Wyck every single day I can safely say that the Van Wyck is a million times worse than the BQE when it comes to traffic. The ratio is correct.
@AM93000
@AM93000 Жыл бұрын
Finally a video that talks about the crappy BQE in NYC. All these years there was nothing on the media about the BQE, absolutely none. Thank you for this video. Entrance to the "wall" towards Manhattan is the hell. Multiple lanes and entrances merge into two lanes. No solution no nothing.
@landrytelfair445
@landrytelfair445 Жыл бұрын
The Knicks will win a Championship before the NYS DOT fixes 278. Im a Knicks fan and it hurt to say that but its true
@DaKidMel33
@DaKidMel33 Жыл бұрын
As a child I remember my father driving on BQE and seeing it under construction and now as a adult almost in My 40s that highway is still a disaster...I always avoided the BQE like a plague 😂 your explanation and analysis is dead on
@Gamecrazy500
@Gamecrazy500 Жыл бұрын
At the start of the video the differences between the interstate and the parkway system were briefly mentioned, and the deficiencies of the parkway system were brought up. The reason for this is very interesting. Basically the interstate and the parkways were designed for 2 completely different purposes. The interstate was a postwar creation designed to be a utilitarian system to move both freight and passenger traffic from point a to point b as efficiently as possible. On the other hand, the parkways were created in the 1920’s and designed specifically to move pleasure motorist on day trips from the crowded city to what was then rural areas for recreation. Infact; The very term parkway has 2 meanings linked to this intended use. Firstly, all these roads were designed to terminate at state parks, which was the intended destination of the traffic. Secondly, the roads themselves were said to be designed as an extension of the park and were therefore built for slower leisure driving, incorporating many turns, lush green medians, and other features intended to beautify the road rather than make it as efficient as possible. As the postwar years saw massive suburban expansion into these formerly rural areas, and the parkway’s usage changed from pleasure driving to utilitarian driving, these features meant to beautify the roadway became a hindrance to its new usage. There have been some projects undertaken to widen lanes and eliminate curves on these highways, but there is only so much that can be done for roads that were designed for a completely different purpose. Mileage Mike, if you have not already done a video on New York’s parkways, please consider it as a future topic as it would make a fantastic series.
@rickyricardo69
@rickyricardo69 Жыл бұрын
the belt and southern state meander way too much
@schwenda3727
@schwenda3727 Жыл бұрын
Given various political, hardcore environmental, and most likely certain immediate neighborhood concerns, I reckon upgrading to full expressway standard may be surprisingly unpopular… even though it’s a VERY badly kept secret that commercial traffic within NYC needs more corridors. But hopefully retrofitting/milling certain sections of Parkway multiple feet lower to eventually be worthy of allowing box trucks (but not 18 wheelers), on top of completely redoing the ramps (while keeping the original bridges until they’re structurally too old) inbetween.
@phuturephunk
@phuturephunk 8 ай бұрын
@@rickyricardo69 Several of the parkways in the NYC area were literally the first limited access roads ever built in the United States. I want to say the Bronx river Parkway was the second one built ever in the 1920's. Most of these highways were built at grade and follow the general topography of the land, which is why they meander. They simply didn't have the resources or the machinery or the will to straighten them out.
@gencreeper6476
@gencreeper6476 8 ай бұрын
Mid 20th century population growth was really a mistake that ruined so many nice things
@billm47645
@billm47645 Жыл бұрын
I live on Long Island. People forget that there are almost 3 million of us that are stuck using this congested and crumbling infrastructure when we want to leave and have goods delivered. Cuomo was supposed to build a bridge / tunnel to the Connecticut (instead of ferries). I welcomed that. Bridge / tunnel from William Floyd Parkway to I-95/91 would be the most logical at this long.
@AdamSmith-gs2dv
@AdamSmith-gs2dv Жыл бұрын
They tried that before but the wealthy fat cats in Connecticut blocked it
@SigmaRho2922
@SigmaRho2922 Жыл бұрын
The construction of a bridge across the Long Island Sound, especially connecting NY 135 to Interstate 287, would result in negative environmental impacts in the areas around its approaches. The area is extremely environmentally sensitive.
@duncanmcauley7932
@duncanmcauley7932 Жыл бұрын
@@SigmaRho2922 I’m pretty sure everywhere is “extremely environmentally sensitive” and any construction project would have negative consequences, but we need to consider trade-offs too. This isn’t stopping the Fehmarnbelt from being built between Germany and Denmark. Although that does include rail in it along with road.
@billm47645
@billm47645 Жыл бұрын
@@SigmaRho2922 I’m not asking for a bridge to I-287, I’m asking for a bridge and/or tunnel combination similar to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge from William Floyd Parkway to I-91 / I-95. I think that would make more sense. More of Long Island is further east than when these proposals were done 40+ years ago.
@SigmaRho2922
@SigmaRho2922 Жыл бұрын
@@billm47645We would need to include an electrified 25 kV AC rail line on that bridge too. It would not be designated as interstate 91 but would be called interstate 295. The old interstate 295 would become part of interstate 80 and interstate 495 would become interstate 380 with 495 being retained as a concurrent state route.
@Cain-x
@Cain-x Жыл бұрын
The BQE is an important artery to NYC - however, I would support the idea of commercial only traffic during certain hours. Perhaps even make it tolled for private vehicles.
@rpvitiello
@rpvitiello Жыл бұрын
I would say make it like the NJ turnpike with separate car and truck lanes, and only allow commercial vehicles in the truck lanes so it doesn’t encourage even more car traffic. The problem with making it a toll road, is New Yorkers try and take surface street to avoid tolls, which is worse. I would say you want to have congestion pricing on surface streets and make the underground highway the free or cheaper option.
@edwardmiessner6502
@edwardmiessner6502 Жыл бұрын
Or make 278 commercial vehicles only at all times and make all private vehicles go around the long way by the Belt Pkwy, the Laurelton, and the Cross Island Pkwy.
@jameskennedy7093
@jameskennedy7093 Жыл бұрын
Better yet to remove it but this would definitely be the runner up proposal.
@cliffpadilla5871
@cliffpadilla5871 Жыл бұрын
@@rpvitiello this is the truth.
@A.Martin
@A.Martin Жыл бұрын
@@jameskennedy7093 I think it is needed, just replace it all with a tunnel except where it may need to pop up for ramps, and demolish the old structure.
@Markkos1992
@Markkos1992 Жыл бұрын
As a kid, my parents crossed the GWB on trips to Westchester County so I wanted an alternate and just looking at a map I was dumb enough to think that I-278 may be a good option. At least that moment makes me glad that I have clinched it.
@digitalhen
@digitalhen Жыл бұрын
The main challenge for the traffic is the constant switching from 2 lane, to 3 lane, then back to 2 lane then back to 3 lane again (on the northbound section). If they just kept it as a 2-lane road all the way through the dangerous section, it would keep the traffic flowing.
@MileageMike485
@MileageMike485 Жыл бұрын
Good point. Random lane drops definitely choke up traffic flow.
@taktsoi9548
@taktsoi9548 Жыл бұрын
I thought about the same. However, if you look at the layout, after 92nd st exit, northbound (To Queens) starts with 2 Lanes section by section, at 7ave BR, then at the Highpoint (Gowanus) (2 lanes to Tunnnel and two lanes turn to wall section. It's hard to start flowing traffic into two lanes.....
@digitalhen
@digitalhen Жыл бұрын
@@taktsoi9548 I was thinking from the place where it splits to the tunnel, it stays 2 lanes from there all the way through to the Brooklyn Bridge. It doesn't need to be 2 lane before that, and the traffic is less awful on a regular basis there too.
@richardkim9952
@richardkim9952 Жыл бұрын
I-78 was planned to routed beyond the Holland Tunnel into Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens and end at JFK Airport by Robert Moses, but this was scrapped due to local opposistion.
@mattyian1208
@mattyian1208 Жыл бұрын
Lower Manhattan Expressway (LOMEX) and Bushwick Expressway I-78 East to Jfk Idlewild Airport.
@aaronswink8554
@aaronswink8554 Жыл бұрын
As I recall, wasn't the original plan to have I-78 literally go through some lower floors of buildings? I can still see the drawings with skyscrapers rising above travel lanes. I know there's no will and no money, and even if there was, the lawsuits and red tape would tie it up until NYC sinks into the Hudson and the East River, but the only thing that would work would be a Big Dig project that would route traffic from New Jersey under Manhattan and then branch it off into Brooklyn and then another branch towards Queens. And those branches can't be anywhere near the BQE.
@andrews2623
@andrews2623 Жыл бұрын
Good! That would have cut lower manhattan, chinatown and the lower east side completely off from the rest of Manhattan! For what? Suburbanites from NJ to catch cheap international flights out of JFK? I think most people living along that planned route would have moved away if completed and killed the city.
@adamochs3106
@adamochs3106 2 ай бұрын
Thank you Mileage Mike consistently providing excellent reporting and views - Much appreciated!
@martinw1225
@martinw1225 Жыл бұрын
The BQE is the worst, there’s always really bad traffic on there, plus it’s in absolutely horrible condition. Cross Bronx Expressway, Belt Parkway, and Cross Island Parkway are bad too, always heavy traffic on those. Excellent video as always!
@MrPickledede
@MrPickledede Жыл бұрын
As a Brooklyn native who had the displeasure of driving on the BQE my entire adult life I think that they should level it and rebuild it
@history_leisure
@history_leisure Жыл бұрын
Also New York looking at Boston's Big Dig probably discourages them from burying the BQE. If the Subway connected to the Staten island Railroad, it might make the 4 lanes passible but it probably would only move people who use a shuttle connection to the higher capacity train that might not be any more frequent that the service as is
@rpvitiello
@rpvitiello Жыл бұрын
The light rail line in NJ that literally stops at the entrance to the Bayonne bridge, a bridge designed to carry rail, should be extended into Staten Island. The fact that wasn’t done as part of the massive construction on the Bayonne bridge is pure Idiocracy.
@williamerazo3921
@williamerazo3921 Жыл бұрын
Can’t anyways because the subways are right there
@beckpack2400
@beckpack2400 Жыл бұрын
SI has about 475k population. It won't help cause biggest traffic from SI is not people with vehicles, it's trucks and food cargos coming from NJ and going to Long Island or Manhattan. Basically SI is just bypass. Train will be cool but wont help
@ModernClassic
@ModernClassic Жыл бұрын
I drove the BQE every day for about 10 years when I owned a retail store in Manhattan. In that situation, it's not really tenable to take public transit because I'd often be bringing shipments or supplies in to the store myself, and even on days I wasn't, I couldn't risk being made late because of some random delay on the LIRR (BQE delays were more or less predictable; LIRR delays were not). I didn't drive on the promenade section of the road but the one thing you didn't mention was the Kosciuszko Bridge, which used to be a major backup every single day. They replaced that with an all-new bridge a few years ago and it more or less fixed that problem. It was generally smooth in both directions after that. Andrew Cuomo pushed that through. I don't see any of the current leaders of the city or state being able to do the same with the Brooklyn Heights promenade section. They just don't have the same gumption.
@KennethScharf
@KennethScharf 4 ай бұрын
I have memories of driving on the BQE when I last lived in NYC some 45 years ago, and visited there up to 15 years ago. Traffic then was heavy, but acceptable, actual speeds often got up to 50 mph (the speed limit) or a bit higher in places. (Never drove the BQE in rush hour). Slow spots were the access ramps to the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, and the exchange with the Gowanus expressway and the Brooklyn Battery tunnel. It's taken a while for things to get this bad.
@MichaelSalo
@MichaelSalo Жыл бұрын
I get that BQE may be a critical route for freight. So dedicate it to freight only. Get rid of the private automobiles clogging up the limited lanes.
@rchot84
@rchot84 Жыл бұрын
Do you how congested that would make Brooklyn streets?
@MichaelSalo
@MichaelSalo Жыл бұрын
@@rchot84 No more so than tearing down the Embarcadero made San Francisco streets.
@jcodek
@jcodek Жыл бұрын
Freight only would never work with the self entitled people in cars.
@puffpuffin1
@puffpuffin1 Жыл бұрын
@@MichaelSalo Not true. The streets surrounding the Embarcadero were under capacity, so the surface streets were able to absorb the traffic. The congestion on the freeway simply ended up on the ground streets. Please stop spreading lies.
@Distress.
@Distress. 4 ай бұрын
Anti highway people always ignore that these freeway teardowns are ocurring in depopulating cities
@langstonreese7077
@langstonreese7077 Жыл бұрын
As a native, I-278 Exit 31 to Williamsburg St W & Flushing Av is always backed up. Even when I’m on the school bus it’s backed up. I recommend skip exit 31 and go to exit 29.
@WHATISUTUBE
@WHATISUTUBE Жыл бұрын
as a former NY'er (a quarter of a century) you talking up NYC got a chuckle out of me. Even now that I could afford to live there I woulsnt go back
@AgathaLOutahere
@AgathaLOutahere Жыл бұрын
The view of Manhattan from the old Kosciusko Bridge was always inspiring.
@brucetelfeyan
@brucetelfeyan 10 ай бұрын
Thank you for accurately describing and showing the disaster that is the BQE. My poor sister has to commute on this road every weekday.
@CaradhrasAiguo49
@CaradhrasAiguo49 Жыл бұрын
Drove thru it since the person I was staying with lived in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and we were returning from Flushing... Subway is still fundamentally a hub-and-spoke system (the G line doesn't extend far enough in its current alignment)
@freecycling6687
@freecycling6687 Жыл бұрын
An obvious temporary (though minimal) measure would be to allow truck traffic on the Belt between the Verrazzano and Bay Parkway. But I can imagine the howling that would ensue if that were proposed!
@rpvitiello
@rpvitiello Жыл бұрын
The problem is many trucks won’t even fit on that road without major construction. If they do major construction to fit trucks, I don’t see it being temporary. (Though to be honest the belt being converted to interstate makes a hell off a lot more sense that the current truck route to Long Island or Kennedy airport.
@williamerazo3921
@williamerazo3921 Жыл бұрын
There’s clearance issues
@edwardmiessner6502
@edwardmiessner6502 Жыл бұрын
The overhead bridges are all too low
@freecycling6687
@freecycling6687 Жыл бұрын
@@edwardmiessner6502 Good point. The good thing about that short stretch, though, is that there's only one auto overpass and one foot bridge. Both could probably be raised easily. But then I guess there'd be the problem of trucks not exiting
@AdamSmith-gs2dv
@AdamSmith-gs2dv Жыл бұрын
That would require the Belt Parkway to be built to interstate standards which would be just as if not more expensive than fixing the BQE
@vizzini2510
@vizzini2510 Жыл бұрын
My daughter graduated from NYU in 2022, so I am happy to say that I will never again have to visit the hell-hole that is New York City. I always laugh when I see films and TV shows made in NYC, because they never show the giant mounds of trash bags, which are omnipresent throughout Manhattan. Trash removal expenses must be a huge component of production costs for anybody filming in NYC. It boggles the mind that people will pay $4,000 for a tiny one-bedroom unit, when there is a constant pile of stinky trash bags right outside your door. This is all part of the overburdened infrastructure system. With all streets and highways functioning at full capacity, the city is already overwhelmed. How can they ever close a major highway for a few years for repairs or upgrades?
@EricRN67
@EricRN67 Ай бұрын
It's a shame that you spent all that money to send your daughter to NYU, and never learned to appreciate the beauty of New York.
@dev9184
@dev9184 Жыл бұрын
all i do is sit in traffic on this highway and then this video comes up on my homepage to remind me of the time ive lost on the forsaken bqe. and i watched it because what's 15 more minutes. great video mileage mike !
@dev9184
@dev9184 Жыл бұрын
your point about brooklyn bridge park: i never considered that space couldve been used as a temporary roadway to offset traffic while they actually fixed the highway. That particular stretch of park where it wouldve/couldve happened is now actually just big mounds of grass. Probably related to flooding or something, but it's unusable by the public in the first place. Widening furman street would have been the answer.
@edwardmiessner6502
@edwardmiessner6502 Жыл бұрын
As someone who first saw the derelict West Side Express Highway after it had collapsed and keeping up with the City and the State's plans to replace it and finally settling on a surface artery, I know what's going to happen. Action will be delayed by environmental reviews, constant public meetings, and even NIMBYs tying things up in court, that the cantilever structure will collapse and then there will be endless squabbles on what to do about it, and finally the City will settle for a surface artery, again. This means 278 will be severed, and will have to be renumbered as two odd-prefix x95 routes.
@SigmaRho2922
@SigmaRho2922 Жыл бұрын
278 is a critical artery for local freight traffic in the area and would have to be rebuilt as a tunnel under the interior of the borough.
@donavanjohnson409
@donavanjohnson409 Жыл бұрын
Hopefully they can do something about interstate 278 in NYC
@paulmonfort8747
@paulmonfort8747 Жыл бұрын
Yo, loved this video, I am born and raised in New York but been living in texas for the last 30 years, the video bought back alot of good memories been on all those roads over and over. Thanks for the video
@charleshargett646
@charleshargett646 3 ай бұрын
Back in the 1990s and early 2000s are used to take the BQE as opposed to the Belt Parkway because at the time it seemed to me to be a more direct route coming from the northern state parkway to get to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge heading south towards Virginia but of course, it was three lanes each direction
@gene7887
@gene7887 Жыл бұрын
So I know the 'official' name is now the "Hugh L Carey Tunnel" but it will never be anything other than the Battery tunnel (or Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel) to locals. NY had an epidemic of renaming crossings in the past decade-plus. Similarly the 59th St / Queensboro Bridge is never seriously called the "Ed Koch Bridge" and the calling the Triboro the "RFK Bridge" is only catching on a bit.
@doh-nc8ku
@doh-nc8ku Жыл бұрын
The only name change that was good was Verrazano to Verrazzano
@nleak92
@nleak92 Жыл бұрын
Being British and watching this I'll never complain about our motorway network again
@NuNugirl
@NuNugirl Жыл бұрын
We drive on a parkway and park on a driveway.
@littleblackduck3134
@littleblackduck3134 9 ай бұрын
You've discussed Cross Bx and the BQE, now you got to enjoy the Van Wyck Expressway that has had daily construction on it since 1979
@martinw1225
@martinw1225 Жыл бұрын
Can you do a video on all of the NYC bridges and tunnels sometime? I’d be very interested to know more about them.
@buckykattnj
@buckykattnj Жыл бұрын
That's actually something of a big ask. Lot of bridges/tunnels and a lot of info to cover. I'm sure Mileage Mike is up to it, if he chooses.
@jacktion1546
@jacktion1546 Жыл бұрын
I used to work for a restaurant with an outpost in the Rockaways. I would have to drive to the restaurant via the BQE, pick up food, and drive to the outpost via the Belt Parkway. It was brutal. The BQE is definitely the worst interstate in NYC, but not the worst highway. That honor goes to the FDR, which was appropriately named after our least mobile president.
@r.g.8977
@r.g.8977 Жыл бұрын
Nope, the worst within NYC is still the Jackie Robinson / Interboro Parkway with its s- curves and 25 MPH speed limit et al.😢
@jacktion1546
@jacktion1546 Жыл бұрын
@@r.g.8977 I’ve only been down the Jackie Robinson a couple of times but yeah, it wasn’t fun. I’m going to stick with the FDR being the worst because it once took me over 2 hours to get from one end to the other at 11PM on a weekend. I nearly pooped my damn pants.
@bigbrother8285
@bigbrother8285 Жыл бұрын
BQE definitely the worst. Cross Bronx #2. I rank the Grand Central worse than the Interboro. I'd say the many of the Interboro's problem are because of the GCP. My fav: The Henry Hudson.
@jacktion1546
@jacktion1546 Жыл бұрын
@@bigbrother8285 Taking the Hudson north from the GW was always a pleasant drive. Taking it south and getting dumped onto the West Side Highway, not so much.
@BurstVessels
@BurstVessels Жыл бұрын
Mike, I (from Raleigh) was up in BK for a wedding, driving around with my parents to bring a bunch of stuff to a hotel for the whole wedding party, and the BQE was terrible. It would've been faster to WALK, forget a scooter, but that wasn't an option unfortunately. You could see problems form in real time that would dissipate in seconds in less densely populated cities, but in NYC a problem created by one person's momentary anti-social behavior can rapidly scale up to the point that it affects thousands of people. On the way into the city on one of the Hackensack bridges it took about 30 minutes to go half a mile; when we got to the point of congestion, it was just a light rear end collision, but the lady with a BBL (which was itself probably a cause of rubbernecking as she stood around talking on the phone) didn't bother to move her BMW into the shoulder.
@JackDaniels-tx4qx
@JackDaniels-tx4qx Жыл бұрын
I saw that on the CBX, a two car accident slowed down traffic to a crawl because they were right in the middle of the road instead of on the shoulder. How do they manage to get away with this? Literally anywhere else I've been, signs are posted to move vehicles to the shoulder if they aren't disabled. If you ask me, not moving vehicles to breakdown lanes when possible should be grounds for a license suspension, at the very least paying considerable premiums.
@kampoutkid
@kampoutkid Жыл бұрын
So was the bbl more natural, or more ridiculous?
@ErdTirdMans
@ErdTirdMans Жыл бұрын
It's almost as though it's a city built more for people than cars and that it's working perfectly fine in that regard 🤔 Pretty fucked they're just letting the road collapse though. Just shut it down and turn it into something useful like another transit line, walkable park, bike path, etc.
@joetheplumber22
@joetheplumber22 Жыл бұрын
Uhhhhhh pretty troubling to compare "what about LA? What about Houston and Dallas?" Those cities all have horrifying traffic and disastrous approaches to managing it. All of those cities involve far more sprawl, far more surface area than NY, but less transit and fewer options for non-car use and so have even worse scenarios for commuting or moving at all. Those are the exact places you DON'T want to replicate. Turning NYC into Houston is... frankly just a kind of insane thing to say.
@MileageMike485
@MileageMike485 Жыл бұрын
That wasn't the point of mentioning them. The point was to highlight that those cities have massive road networks to move a significantly smaller population to show the scale of how large NYC is in comparison in turn leading to the heavy use of its highways. Geographically speaking there's no possibility for NYC to replicate those places so no one was suggesting that. Despite the transit, NYC sprawls quite a bit too. Development doesn't stop when you leave the NYC city limits.
@turnpike9680
@turnpike9680 Жыл бұрын
From the perspective of commuters, yes. From the perspective of commercial trucks, emergency vehicles, military, and Transit drivers that are kind of forced to use it, Mike is spot on. I do agree with you about public transit in North America - it's inadequate in most modern US cities, and where it is adequate, rider security is almost always a problem - but we can have better public transit and still have properly maintained and well-designed high-speed roads. Public and private transportation do not have to be at odds.
@shentanomoroy7361
@shentanomoroy7361 Жыл бұрын
NY sucks tho
@stevetournay6103
@stevetournay6103 11 ай бұрын
The ground level boulevard in place of an old elevated highway in a large city recalls the long-ongoing debate about what to do with Toronto's Gardiner Expressway...
@Unb3arablePain
@Unb3arablePain 10 ай бұрын
I managed to "volunteer" to drive a 26' moving van to our Brooklyn branch from North Carolina. I came into the BQE on a Friday morning....it took me an hour to move less than 5 miles.
@wildeone1636
@wildeone1636 Жыл бұрын
I'm always afraid it's gonna collapse when I'm driving on it.
@edwink1467
@edwink1467 Жыл бұрын
I unfortunately have to drive through BQE every day to get to work. I can feel it physically SHAKES during bumper to bumper traffic. It will collapse if they don’t fix it soon.
@daveharrison84
@daveharrison84 Жыл бұрын
After you build the replacement, use congestion pricing to try to reduce the traffic and recoup the cost. If the truck traffic is so important then the truck traffic will keep using it while unnecessary car traffic is discouraged.
@rpvitiello
@rpvitiello Жыл бұрын
When you charge tolls on the only limited access highways to Long Island, you are going to encourage people to drive on surface streets. If you keep making traffic worse, you start to drive business out of Long Island/ NYC completely. Yes it will get rid of traffic by reducing demand, by making businesses move or fail. As it is there’s an automatic $150 surcharge by most trucking companies to go into Long Island, and that’s mostly to cover the toll. If you make it even more expensive it’s going to pass that cost on to people and businesses on Long Island/ in NYC.
@thejaster4733
@thejaster4733 Жыл бұрын
Commercial goods in Europe are also transported mostly by roads (trains are mostly used to transport bulk materials) and somehow Europe doesn't need highways through cities.
@arthurbdt2329
@arthurbdt2329 Жыл бұрын
there are tons of highways going through cities in Europe too
@williamsvoboda240
@williamsvoboda240 2 ай бұрын
Worked for the Port Authority back thirty plus years ago. Both in Brooklyn at the PA piers and in Port Elizabeth in New Jersey. The BQE was a disaster thirty years ago, it was too small for the amount of traffic that used it. I see nothing has changed since I retired. I seriously doubt anything will change as there is no desire to rip up Brooklyn Heights or the Promenade to make the BQE wider.
@prant8998
@prant8998 6 ай бұрын
When driving under the Brooklyn Bridge access road it was always just two lanes. So it was three lanes like a normal road but then reduced to two as if a tractor trailer was broken down in one. The Atlantic Ave, exit is five miles from the Long Island Expressway, I would allow at least 45 minutes to make that trip, it often took an hour. I would get up at 4:30 to beat the traffic, leave a sleepy neighborhood in Carroll Gardens and jump onto the BQE. It was like being dropped into the middle of the pack at the Indianapolis 500. All kinds of trucks cars tractor trailers booming down the road as if they were escaping a nuclear bomb. The BQE is New York City, people are in hurry.
@gerdokurt
@gerdokurt Жыл бұрын
Im a civil engineer for traffic planning and road construction and my opinion on american highways is: If there was a better education in driving and behaving in a car, many many traffic and congestion problems would be fixed instantly. Nobody is talking about that quiet obvious point. If you have good rules and people who can follow the rules, highways dont start to congest with 40, 50% of their capacity in use. With bad/missing rules and bad drivers, you can even kill the traffic flow on empty roads!
@MileageMike485
@MileageMike485 Жыл бұрын
That's an excellent point. I've seen so many roadways where traffic is worse than it needs to be because of the way that people drive. Left lane hogs might be the worst of them all. In Houston on the Katy Freeway I often notice people seeing all those open lanes as an opportunity to drive slow in the far left most lanes and slow down everyone else.
@dr.woozie7500
@dr.woozie7500 Жыл бұрын
True. UK Drivers have smaller lanes and fewer shoulders yet still drive in a better manner than most American drivers.
@Stanf954
@Stanf954 Жыл бұрын
Recentl, a painful reminder occured on I 95 in Philadelphia with a fuel truck fire causing a collapse of an overpass in NE Philadelphia. The highway is shutdown in both direction for a significant distance and creating a traffic nightmare on 95 for local and transcity commuting. This is going to to create a similar situation if the BQE is allowed to continue to disintegrate at the currant pace. Bite the bullet and get it fixed or replaced.
@phillipmoore6295
@phillipmoore6295 Жыл бұрын
I worked for the DOT for a short time in Brooklyn. I had to use the BQE and Gowanus daily. One day, while working at the Hamilton Ave asphalt plant. The 'big' boss told me that the City has plans to dig up 4th Ave and put a thru tunnel under it. Then, they would rebuild 4th Ave for local traffic and tear down the Gowanus permanently. Drivers would be given a choice. Take the tunnel straight through Bklyn or take 4th Ave local streets. Since that was 20 years ago. I guess that plan is out the window. Lol
@deanchapman1824
@deanchapman1824 Жыл бұрын
I work in downtown Brooklyn by the Heights. I frequently go to the Promenade, which is above the BQE. This is during lunch hour. The BQE is always gridlocked. I would avoid ALL car travel in NYC if possible.
@dmillions
@dmillions Жыл бұрын
Grew up in Brooklyn and now live in Queens, so I know that road and the area that’s falling apart very well. Mother still lives in Brooklyn so to visit mom the BQE is the best of all the not so good ways. Interconnectivity between Brooklyn and Queens has been terrible for years. And with traffic explosion it is unbearable. Lucky that to get to mom I get off the BQE way before the tiered section, but if that area wasn’t such a shit show I would be faster to shoot over that and jump on the prospect park expressway. So New York and Brooklyn officials please get it together. Thank you for visiting my Ted Talk.
@coreymerricksterling1699
@coreymerricksterling1699 Жыл бұрын
I ride on I 278 in all Broughs and assess the congestion is ridiculous, mainly in Brooklyn(BQE) and also in the Bronx(Bruckner Expressway south)
@JackDaniels-tx4qx
@JackDaniels-tx4qx Жыл бұрын
As far as Big Digging the BQE goes, a quick look at any map of the NYC subway will show you why that is going to be a nightmare just to get off the drawing board, much less get approved. Hell, the Trans-Manhattan Expressway, which for those who don't know, connects the Cross Bronx Expressway to the George Washington Bridge, is partially buried underneath apartment complexes and a bus terminal, and a few of the supports also show signs of potentially falling apart. So now you have two crosstown full routes that handle more traffic than possibly any other road in North America (maybe apart from Ontario's 401) that are facing wear and tear issues that the city ignores. Simply put, you'll have to keep these highways elevated and take notes from Tokyo's networks because that's probably the closest counterpart to NYC aside from the fact that I doubt Tokyo has winters as rough as the city does.
@Demopans5990
@Demopans5990 Жыл бұрын
Except you will also need to essentially mount the highways on apartments as there is no way you're fitting a 8 lane anywhere in NYC
@JackDaniels-tx4qx
@JackDaniels-tx4qx Жыл бұрын
@@Demopans5990 You can if you're the second coming of Robert Moses.
@Demopans5990
@Demopans5990 Жыл бұрын
@@JackDaniels-tx4qx The property values have gone to a point where a small townhouse in Bed-Stuy is now 5mill. In a neighborhood that is still kinda crappy. I suspect the Bronx has a similar story. Eminent domain will bankrupt you pretty quickly
@DTD110865
@DTD110865 Жыл бұрын
I wrote to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey about the crumbling infrastructure on the Trans-Manhattan Expressway during the late-90's when the PA had their HQ at the World Trade Center.
@JackDaniels-tx4qx
@JackDaniels-tx4qx Жыл бұрын
@@DTD110865 I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the NYC Subway still has no shortage of infrastructure from 1904.
@dontgetlost4078
@dontgetlost4078 Жыл бұрын
One thing as well about the BQE is that part of its 3 level section is segregating a densely populated area from its waterfront. While you have the great views on the 3rd level, the next thing people want is a direct access to the waterfront. While it has never been discussed due to traffic issues, you could lower stress and increase QoL by straight up removing the section and replacing it with an angled elevator for pedestrians. But that would mean talking about the Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, so we can't have that or else the city falls apart, or something... A more serious suggestion, since you've brought up the necessity of delivering goods, how about we build the Stoop design... and ban cars from using it? There wouldn't be a need for the roadway to be 6 lanes wide, since only trucks (and maybe buses) will use it. That would solve the issue of goods. Then the obvious phrase is "but it'll make traffic worse everywhere else!!" It's New York bruh, traffic is already so irredeemably bad that who cares if it gets worse at this point lol.
@chrispontani6059
@chrispontani6059 Жыл бұрын
You can’t outlaw cars because they have to go someplace. They’re already putting a congestion surcharge to enter Manhattan. Now the only way to get to Jersey would be the Belt Parkway or the Cross Bronx.
@rpvitiello
@rpvitiello Жыл бұрын
In most cities they remove highways through the middle of the city, so traffic takes the bypass routes. NYC is a bunch of islands, and the ONLY way to all of Long Island is THROUGH Long Island. 3 lanes in each direction isn’t enough capacity for trucks/ buses even if you ban all cars. Lack of modern infrastructure is literally choking off New York’s economy.
@jaimerosado3896
@jaimerosado3896 Жыл бұрын
Stop listening to CityNerd.
@dontgetlost4078
@dontgetlost4078 Жыл бұрын
@@jaimerosado3896 Can't listen to his flegmatic sarcasm?
@Demopans5990
@Demopans5990 Жыл бұрын
NYC also needs a good cargo rail line that runs through Long Island + Staten Island and is connected somewhere in NJ. That handles the longer distance (by NYC standards because traffic is as you said, horrible) and leaves smaller trucks to do the local runs. Overall freight time is probably about the same because again, the traffic is horrible, and less trucks on the highways would help with wear and tear. Even better if Amazon/UPS/USPS warehouses are basically on the cargo rail line since rail scales quite well with load
@eazybuxafew
@eazybuxafew Жыл бұрын
The algorithm led me to this video. And having grown up in the BX now living in Jersey. Def gon give these a watch. 78 is gross but gives you some of the best views of Manhattan from both Jersey and Brooklyn
@javianjohnson8746
@javianjohnson8746 Ай бұрын
The BQE definitely needs to be rebuilt. These small-repairs/patchwork that they're doing is NOT going to cut it
@nick_m.5
@nick_m.5 Жыл бұрын
as a nyc resident from the bronx, a reason for the heavy congestion is poor public transportation design. yes nyc has better pt that most of the us but it still pales in comparison with european cities. the 278 is mostly used for travel between bx queens and bk. their isn’t a train line that adequately covers this demand. their is the g train which only covers a small part of queens and bk. aside from the g train to travel between these boroughs using pt would require u to take a train to manhattan then to ur destination. because the pt is designed to bring ppl to manhattan which creates dead zones in the boroughs which forces people to drive and take busses. which doesn’t help bc busses get caught in the same traffic as cars. their needs to be a train line that goes from bx to queens and bk. the mta proposed a train line to fulfill this demand but knowing how corrupt the mta is it will take decades to complete. increase pt and incentivizing alternatives to driving has show to decrease traffic, leaving the road for ppl who need to drive (ie interstate travel).
@dennis3351
@dennis3351 Жыл бұрын
I prefer a rental car if to drive through NYC. I have lets say a phobia of breaking down in a tunnel or backing traffic up for a mile.
@jss27560
@jss27560 2 ай бұрын
nothing will get done until it starts falling down. I also question the cost of repair/replacement. The I66 outside the beltway cost &3.7 billion this is estimated to cost $3.2 billion.
@howardcohen5242
@howardcohen5242 Жыл бұрын
It’s the Hugh Carey tunnel. Not Carney
@GD1082
@GD1082 Жыл бұрын
Correction: it's the "Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel". I hate that some middling governor from the 70s-80s is memorialized from the more descriptive and geographically correct "Brooklyn Battery".
@AlainSTO
@AlainSTO Жыл бұрын
My girlfriend didn't read the title so during your introduction, she was going, "BQE! BQE! BQE!" I use it a lot to go to her place from New Jersey where it meet Prospect Expressway. Hate BQE and Staten Island Expressway, which I'd say has the worst drivers. Love your videos.
@casanova419
@casanova419 Жыл бұрын
Around the late 80's when I got my drivers license to the mid 90's after 11 pm during the week the Cross Bronx was a cemetery hardly no traffic around. The same with The BQE,East River Drive, LIE. In 25 minutes from GWB to Brooklyn bridge. Now traffic is like that 24 hours a day.
@mikewhitley6769
@mikewhitley6769 Жыл бұрын
It's called the shelf that is crumbling right now how they are gonna fix it is beyond me you can't divert all that traffic to local streets around there you are right on the water on one side and downtown Brooklyn on the other. I drive tractor trailer know the roads very vary well been traveling them for the last 35 Years
@GaryWRNY
@GaryWRNY Жыл бұрын
I salute you for driving in the city for so long! how do you deal?
@p0tat0o
@p0tat0o Жыл бұрын
Let's address the elephant in the room: People are fucking entitled. Why do you need to drive in NYC if you can walk/cycle or take public transit? Same goes for cities like Toronto, where I'm located. It is infuriating seeing all these LOCUSTS polluting the road. Firstly, the vast majority of people cannot drive for shit, secondly, public transit is good enough that you don't need to drive. People need to stop being entitled, public transit isn't a bad thing. Use it. Replace the BQE and CBE with a train line, add more trains, more public transit, and add a toll for all traffic coming into the city that does not have primary address within the downtown core areas of the city. Simply put, reduce the amount of cars on the road, and then everything will be better. But no, people are far too entitled and self-absorbed to see this, "MUH CAR, MUH FREEDOM!11". It's honestly ridiculous. I cannot grasp why nobody wants to talk about this. Instead of being soft, acknowledge your weakness and work on it. For me, I am an UberEats driver, so before anyone complains to me I depend on a car directly for my job, I cannot use public transit to deliver food obviously. For the vast majority of people, though, it's a matter of not being lazy and entitled, and deciding to use public transit. If you know you're a not so good driver (left lane hog, tailgating etc), then just don't drive. NYC isn't like the rest of America where you arguably need a car due to car-centric design, NYC, as mentioned in the video, is actually walkable and has good public transit. People aught to use it. Also, ban big 18wheeler semis from entering the city, use smaller trucks instead. They're too big for most of the downtown in Manhattan and Brooklyn etc. Let's see how much hate I get for this comment from the entitled people possibly watching this video :/
@jcodek
@jcodek Жыл бұрын
As a truck driver that’s had to deliver on Flushing Ave off the BQE many times. I agree with you. Ban 18 wheelers, yes. I always thought there should be a huge cross dock area in NJ, say around Edison, for all freight going into and coming from NYC. Build a big bridge from LI to CT for trucks to get out on LI. Bypass the area completely. And as far as the self entitled. YES! The number of time I’ve been sitting in traffic at 4am on a Sunday on the BQE thinking “don’t these people have homes”.
@sixpencerbx
@sixpencerbx Жыл бұрын
Theres way denser areas in other parts of the world than Brooklyn such as the city core in Tokyo, and they only have four lanes but the traffic isnt even that bad cuz they have high tolls. Toll pricing for all those that dont need to take the BQE could be the solution.
@DANGMOE
@DANGMOE Жыл бұрын
The BQE! A nightmare trying to head back to Boston on a Sunday
@mikewhitley6769
@mikewhitley6769 Жыл бұрын
The parkway are called parkway because many years ago those roads originated and ended in one of the many state parks
@JimAllen-Persona
@JimAllen-Persona Жыл бұрын
Thank you Robert Moses.
@danherald8720
@danherald8720 3 ай бұрын
I live in sheep heads bay Brooklyn there has been nothing done on the belt parkway in 22 years. And the BQE problem goes all the back to the gothals bridge in Staten Island
@stuartaaron613
@stuartaaron613 Жыл бұрын
Great video. As a former New Yorker from Long Island, I have driven on the BQE on a few occasions (thankfully). Last June I was up in New York on vacation, and made the mistake of going to the BQE (Huge traffic that day getting off the Verrazzano Bridge to the Belt Parkway, which was also jammed. I finally gave up, and got off at Atlantic Avenue and took it to Pennsylvania Avenue to the Jackie Robinson Parkway (formerly the Interboro Parkway) to the Grand Central Parkway.
@jeremiahtaylor1817
@jeremiahtaylor1817 Жыл бұрын
Jackie Robinson was an even dumber idea
@stuartaaron613
@stuartaaron613 Жыл бұрын
@@jeremiahtaylor1817 Actually, the Jackie Robinson was moving, and I made good time to the Grand Central.
@QwertYuiop-yt3uh
@QwertYuiop-yt3uh Жыл бұрын
I grew up in queens and regularly take the BQE. The traffic is truly horrific
@juanitoqueintin5908
@juanitoqueintin5908 Жыл бұрын
It is always red if you look at google maps traffic at any time … for example I’m looking right now it’s 11:14pm on a Saturday night it’s red, traffic.
@jdellino912
@jdellino912 Жыл бұрын
Great vid..i take the bqe home everyday ..williamsburg bridge to bqe..to grandcentral pkwy....lower manhattan to northern queens...on mondays 40min...fridays a easy hour and a half commute
@bearjmu
@bearjmu Жыл бұрын
Drove this to go to a Mets game yesterday. It took 2 hours to go 11 miles. Unbelievable!
@toolboxnj
@toolboxnj Жыл бұрын
Love the BKE, growing up my dad always said it was driving on "hard mode" and that's the truth.
@kevinnieto8331
@kevinnieto8331 3 ай бұрын
Mike totally gets it! He doesn’t even live here and he already knows how the politics involved will make this an almost impossible fix. I use this highway almost every weekend and it’s still full of traffic at 9am😭, but like he said the most likely scenario is that nothing will get done because of budget arguments and politics… and this will either collapse or something extreme would have to happen for NYC to actually rebuild this correctly
@sydneyhart
@sydneyhart Жыл бұрын
You should do a video on the Jackie Robinson Pkwy.
@sesposit88
@sesposit88 Жыл бұрын
00:01 Im sorry to hear
@Will0398
@Will0398 Жыл бұрын
The *just take mass transit* people are almost as annoying as the *just one more lane* people. An important artery can simply not be shut down, it needs to be improved.
@blackopscw7913
@blackopscw7913 Ай бұрын
"neo-urbanism" they all watch the same few people on YT and think that they know everything about the world and infrastructure.
@jamesstephens9702
@jamesstephens9702 Ай бұрын
Unfortunately the neighborhood around BQE in Brooklyn just can't handle the traffic flowing if the expressway is closed for repairs.
@fasdaVT
@fasdaVT Жыл бұрын
My idea is build a temporary road and replace it with a truck route and a new train that goes all the way to NJ or even better a dedicated rails for both passenger and freight moving cargo by Intermodel shipping containers. Trains just drop off the containers and smaller street sized delivery vehicles would transport it around the city. Most of the stuff arrives in the port in shipping containers anyway.
@sheldongertel6341
@sheldongertel6341 Жыл бұрын
I loooooooooooooooove this video. Unfortunately I have had to travel on this road around 80 days a year since 2007 to go to work from New Jersey. Your analysis is so spot on. This road is ALWAYS congested. And without a shoulder, as you pointed out, any car that breaks down or if there is an accident exacerbates the delays even more. It typically takes me tween 80 and 100 minutes to travel the 28 miles to and from my origination and destination, however mass transit would actually take longer plus I get to listen to whatever I want in my car. Another "obstacle" is the insane driving of many of the cars on this road. Maybe it's the stress built up from living in the City but there are things I have seen on this road where I can't imagine how another human being would do something so outrageous. I don't know how to solve the problem with the road but you have excellent ideas, perhaps you could submit your resume to the City. Thanks again.
@pleappleappleap
@pleappleappleap Ай бұрын
The BQE at night has one of the most beautiful views anywhere.
@WrabrenBrawner47
@WrabrenBrawner47 Жыл бұрын
I totally agree. I lived in SanFran, by far, NYC has the worst traffic!!
@billjoyce5103
@billjoyce5103 9 ай бұрын
I live in Westchester and am a die hard Nets fan. Getting to the games is hard because it’s either a metro north to subway which takes an hour and a half and is not as reliable after the game or taking the good ole bqe. Usually have to leave my apartment at 5 for a 730 tip and takes 2+ hours to go 14 miles. Coming home isn’t bad however, usually takes 30-35 minutes. I think the best solution to reliving passenger traffic is more commuter rail into Brooklyn. If I had a direct train I would do that 100 times out of 100 and would be one less car on the road. Possibly could leverage the bay ridge and hell gate lines to make that work.
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