From the NY Times:
New York City has plenty of aging, rage-inducing roadways, as drivers who have spent time on the Cross Bronx Expressway can attest. With its multitude of trucks and dangerous on-ramps, the B.Q.E. is a den of congestion at virtually all hours of the day.
But one factor has condemned this antiquated 16.8-mile stretch of highway to a place of longstanding infamy in the New York metropolitan area, if not all of urban America: construction that never seems to end.
As Gerry Michalowski, a truck driver who has traveled the B.Q.E. since 1978, put it, “It was under construction then, and it’s still under construction now.”
The first section of the road, which included the Kosciuszko Bridge, opened in 1939. After the 1950s, as most sections of the roadway were completed, Robert Moses, New York’s master builder, hailed the highway as part of a grand plan to solve the “problem of express travel.”
Repairs began in 1960, well before the road was officially finished in 1970. Today, the infernal color orange — seen on barrels, cones, “Work Ahead” warnings — is a permanent feature of the deteriorating landscape.
7 comments:
Get rid of the 1 way toll at the VZ!
Anon No. 1:
Over the collected dead bodies of every elected official on Staten Island.
Yet another reason that automobile based development was a terrible idea for the boroughs. My car is nice and all, but but I'm tired of the tickets and especially the BQE. We need more trains.
How about install high speed automated tolls on the VZ. They work with EZ Pass tags and high speed cameras. Get rid of 90 percent of toll booths and toll operators too. Station traffic cops to pull vehicles with BOL status, and missing, damaged, unreadable, and illegal flip up plates.
Unfortunately, there will always be traffic on the BQE as it will always be in a state of constant recontructive maintenance.
There should be another six lanes of connector expressway between the Veranzano and the Triboro. The BQE will never be able to do the job alone.
There is, it's called the Belt-Cross Island-Grand Central Parkways detour
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