Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the proposal Monday, calling it a solution to one of the city's most pressing infrastructure challenges.
The BQE carries roughly 150,000 vehicles daily and includes a deteriorating triple cantilever section that has been the focus of debate for years.
Mamdani says that can't go on.
"There have been many administrations that have understood the importance of this," Mamdani said. "We want to be one that also delivers on the fix to this central part of the BQE."
The central section of the highway runs through Brooklyn Heights, where the BQE is cantilevered, with the southbound lanes running beneath the northbound lanes and the famed Brooklyn Promenade above them.
The highway opened in 1957 and was built to last up to 50 years.
In a social media video, Mamdani explained that patchwork solutions are no longer enough. The administration will rebuild the one-and-a-half-mile stretch that the city controls, including the cantilever, leaving the Promenade intact.
The first step is to construct a temporary highway in each direction, above Furman Street and below the Promenade, from Atlantic Avenue to Columbia Heights, where an elevated bypass will carry traffic over the Brooklyn Bridge approach to the Manhattan Bridge.
The last plan called for demolishing the Promenade during construction, infuriating residents. This one may be the best of a bad set of options for the BQE.
State Sen. Andrew Gounardes represents the community and says details matter.
"The question is, while they're building that highway, will there be traffic diverted through local communities and that highway is there? What impact will that have on people trying to access Brooklyn Bridge Park? So we are heartened by what we have heard so far," Gounardes said. "But again, the details here matter, and that's the next step of this process for us."
City officials say the rehabilitation project would begin construction in 2030, take about 10 years to complete, and extend the BQE's lifespan by approximately 40 years. The price tag is estimated at $4 billion.
The city's Department of Transportation will now begin the environmental review process and community outreach efforts. Informational sessions and public scoping are expected to take place before an Environmental Impact Statement is issued in the summer of 2028.
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