Here's What BQE's Long-Awaited Redesign Could Look Like: Photos

NEW YORK CITY — The Stoop. The Terraces. The Lookout.

Those aren't names of new restaurants — instead, they're three potential new designs for a prominent stretch of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway rolling past Brooklyn Heights.

City transportation officials unveiled the trio of designs Tuesday as they forge ahead on a long-awaited — and, hopefully, long-term — fix for the crumbling BQE.

“These bold concepts reflect the wealth of feedback we’ve received from New Yorkers on how they want to reimagine BQE Central, with beautiful public spaces, safer bike and pedestrian connections, and improved access to local parks,” said Ydanis Rodriguez, the city's transportation commissioner, in a statement.

Fixing the BQE, especially its cantilever section under the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, has been a persistent headache for city officials.

The three designs, which are subject to change, propose to hide the expressway from view along its Atlantic Avenue to Sands Street stretch and give more pedestrian access from the Promenade to Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Two of those designs — The Terraces and The Lookout — can be built be only partially replacing the cantilever, officials said. The Stoop design would require a more-complicated full replacement, they said.

City officials said they plan to gather community feedback on the designs while they also study whether the roadway such have two or three lanes.