Members of an environmental justice coalition rallied in Williamsburg on Monday to ask city and state leaders to stop expanding highways, including the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
Members of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway Environmental Justice Coalition and the Stop the Cross Bronx Expansion Coalition said Governor Kathy Hochul and the Department of Transportation are considering plans to widen the Cross Bronx and Brooklyn-Queens expressways, in addition to the Hudson Valley's Route 17, despite widespread pushback from community members and elected officials.
Both expressways collectively carry nearly 300,000 polluting vehicles daily - including 13,000 trucks on the BQE - directly adjacent to schools, playgrounds, housing and public spaces in neighborhoods that low-income residents, immigrants and people of color predominantly call home. Currently the city is mulling plans to widen the cantilever section of the BQE.
"For decades our communities across Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx have been experiencing the cumulative health and environmental impacts of living and working, next to these highways," Maria Fernanda Pulido-Velosa, BQE Environmental Justice Coalition Organizer at El Puente said in a statement.
In the southside of Williamsburg, children are playing in playgrounds and parks that are right next to the BQE and breathing in toxins, she said.
"Both youth and elders are endangered by trucks and vehicles entering the highway at high speeds on their way to schools, senior centers and their homes. It is long overdue for our state and city agencies to support transformative change in our communities that prioritizes the health and wellbeing of our communities," she said.
Members from the Red Hook Initiative, Brooklyn Heights Association, 350Brooklyn, Brooklyn Greenway and elected officials, including city Comptroller Brad Lander, state Senator Andrew Gounardes, Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, Council Members Jennifer Gutierrez and Lincoln Restler all noted their concerns about the highway expansion plan.
El Puente said the city and state need to look further into pollution mitigation strategies, such as reducing truck traffic and increasing the tree canopy and green spaces in Continental Army Plaza and La Guardia Playground, both in Williamsburg.
The coalition urged the city to implement community-led mitigation strategies across neighborhoods in the short term. In the long term, the coalition is demanding that the city and state DOT invest in a community-led and environmental justice-centred comprehensive plan to transform the entire BQE corridor.
"Rather than double down on the failed approach of Robert Moses, our governor needs to invest precious public resources in safe and affordable ways for us to get around," said Danny Pearlstein, Policy & Communications Director of Riders Alliance. "The governor is burnishing an impressive public transit record and she should not tarnish her legacy by widening highways and casting bigger shadows over New York's communities."
