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Important-Ad1871 t1_j9uqkip wrote

Can we just get rid of it? New York was fine for 200 years without it and other cities have experienced success just eliminating waterfront highways (Seattle & SF) + west side elevated highway

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Grass8989 t1_j9v2xxl wrote

The BQE has no viable alternative and is part of the interstate highway system(I-278) It also is major commercial thoroughfare for the entire city, so no.

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D_Ashido t1_j9v8sdu wrote

BQE is actually I-278. One of the few highways that was built from the controversial Interstate 78 NYC project.

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[deleted] t1_j9v93q0 wrote

[deleted]

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D_Ashido t1_j9vaimh wrote

> The city survived just fine before the BQE, and would be able to do so again if it went away.

When the city was fine with it, we didn't have the population it does today AND we didn't debilitate our Borough's railroad infrastructure yet. Bay Ridge Branch was catenary electrified and multi track service with stubs to directly serve vendors for freight; solving the need for all of the trucks traveling to reach areas in Brooklyn. (Not subway)

We've done very little to boost up other modes of transportation outside of automobiles and now when we need alts we are screwed.

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TetraCubane t1_j9vbhbn wrote

Congestion on the Van Wyck and Cross Island would skyrocket.

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b1argg t1_j9vaj2j wrote

by "served by" you mean barely even entered

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riotburn t1_j9v1q22 wrote

Does San Francisco have other highways? How do you eliminate the only highway in the city's largest borough?

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blakeley t1_j9v510z wrote

SF had the Embarcadero that collapsed in an earthquake, they didn’t rebuild and things there seem fine with street cars along the waterfront.

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riotburn t1_j9v6oz6 wrote

SF has less than half the population density of Brooklyn, and from Google maps appears to have a lot of wide avenues. And you're saying the highway ends at the terminus for prob most of where people are going to.

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LiterallyBismarck t1_j9vxte9 wrote

Cities don't need highways to function, there's plenty without them in Europe and Asia. Even in North America, Vancouver does just fine without a highway.

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riotburn t1_j9vzxox wrote

They don't have highways circling the city?

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LiterallyBismarck t1_j9w1k05 wrote

The BQE doesn't circle the city, it goes right through the heart of downtown Brooklyn.

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riotburn t1_j9w7pa0 wrote

I mean it doesn't go through downtown Brooklyn...only bisects Williamsburg and Greenpoint.

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LiterallyBismarck t1_j9x6h6k wrote

I don't know what your definition of "downtown Brooklyn" is, but when I look on Google Maps, the BQE next to the Manhattan Bridge is literally a block away from the "Downtown Brooklyn" bridge, and it basically divides Dumbo from the rest of Brooklyn. I'm struggling to imagine what you think would qualify as going through downtown Brooklyn, if you don't think this counts.

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b1argg t1_j9vac84 wrote

it's a necessity for Brooklyn, and some Queens, residents to leave the island. Especially with congestion pricing coming.

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Important-Ad1871 t1_j9vfw62 wrote

I’m not sure I see your point re:congestion pricing

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b1argg t1_j9vgcbc wrote

because the BQE is the way to bypass manhattan

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oreosfly t1_j9vjsv3 wrote

If you want to go from Queens/Bk/LI to New Jersey, the cheapest way is to take one of the free East River crossings into Manhattan and then cross the island to the Holland/Lincoln/GWB. This is a toll free route. Once you start charging drivers $23 to enter the CBD, they will begin diverting around the CBD and take either go north via RFW or Cross Bronx to the GW (which will cost about $7), or they will take the BQE south to the Verrazzano and leave via the Goethals/Outer Bridge (cost about $7 as well).

If you have all this extra traffic going onto the BQE to go around the CBD and the BQE is not able to handle that extra load, you can see how this quickly spirals into an unmitigated clusterfuck

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Important-Ad1871 t1_j9vovs3 wrote

Oh, then just make all of the roads cost the same and the traffic situation won’t change

Ezpz

I do appreciate the breakdown, though

−2

oreosfly t1_j9yvyxb wrote

The point is to route traffic around the CBD, though. If you make all roads cost the same, then people will say "well, I'm paying the same shit anyways so I might as well continue cutting through Manhattan". The entire purpose of congestion pricing is to route people around Manhattan rather than through it.

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