The number of overweight trucks crossing the creakiest section of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway has been more than halved by the installation of overweight vehicle sensors, city transportation officials announced Tuesday.
Beginning in November 2023, the city has used automated sensors on the Queens-bound side of the BQE triple-cantilever in downtown Brooklyn to assess fines to overweight trucks.
An analysis of a years worth of data shows that overweight crossings of the triple-cantilever have fallen by 60% since the automated fines began — an average of 3,041 overweight trucks each month, down from 7,920 a month prior to the program beginning.
“I hope our productive partnership with legislative leaders and the Governor to bring weigh-in-motion to New York City, and the results it has yielded, can serve as a national model for other cities and states, including the rest of New York State,” city transportation commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said in a statement.
Some 130,000 vehicles traverse the BQE each day, according to city data, a number that includes roughly 13,000 trucks. The route includes the aging triple cantilever structure that skirts Brooklyn Heights — a stacked set of roadways that has long been in need of serious repair.
Weight sensors were first installed along the Queens-bound lane of the structure, and were authorized by lawmakers in Albany to interface with license-plate cameras and automatically issue fines to trucks carrying more than the allowable per-axle weight or gross vehicle weight. The DOT had initially planned to install the system on the Staten Island-bound side by the end of 2024, an upgrade officials say is coming this year.
But the automated ticket system’s authorization is set to expire on December 1.
Transportation officials Tuesday called on Albany to re-authorize and expand the program, allowing for it to be used on other sections of road under NYC DOT’s auspices.
As previously reported, work to overhaul the triple cantilever is expected to begin in 2028.
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