Wednesday’s Headlines: The Weighting is the Hardest Part Edition

Here’s more evidence that automated enforcement works: Yesterday, the Department of Transportation reported that the number of overweight trucks on the crumbling Brooklyn-Queens Expressway had declined by 64 percent since the city implemented automated weight enforcement on the highway.

During the first seven months of so-called “Weight in Motion” automated enforcement, a monthly average of 2,769 overweight trucks crossed the triple cantilever, down from 7,777 overweight trucks in the seven months leading up to the launch of the program.

And that decline in hefty haulers comes as overall traffic on the roadway has remained more or less steady.

The chart data starts in January 2023, which is when the agency’s sensors started monitoring the roadway. But the city only started issuing tickets thanks to a state bill by Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon that became law almost exactly one year ago.

In a subsequent exchange with Streetsblog, the DOT said the reduction in overweight trucks will extend the life of the crumbling triple cantilever section of the BQE until the DOT begins its multi-billion-dollar reconstruction in 2029.

So that’s sort of the bad news: A stabilized highway will undermine advocates who have called for the roadway to simply be torn down and reconfigured as a more reasonable, boulevard-style roadway that does not cut Brooklyn off from its waterfront.

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso certainly made that point, even as he expressed support for the ticketing of overweight trucks, using the city press release to make a point of his own: “It remains critical that we reimagine the BQE from top to bottom.”

And Simon also put the focus on the BQE’s future, not its present: “The WIM program will help extend the useful life of the BQE and give us time to reimagine the BQE as a 21st-century transportation corridor that reduces our reliance on polluting trucks and prioritizes climate justice,” she said.

One more little detail: heretofore, ticketing has only been conducted in the Queens-bound direction; DOT will launch the enforcement for Staten Island-bound traffic by the end of the year, the agency said.

In other news:

• Mayor Adams finally nominated anti-bike, anti-congestion pricing revanchist and all-around blowhard Randy Mastro to be the city’s top legal official. (NY Times, NYDN)
• Comptroller Brad Lander is running for mayor — setting off a competitive race for an office he probably could have retained. (NY Times, Gothamist, NYDN)
• Gov. Hochul’s congestion pricing pause put “thousands” of union jobs on the line. (NY1)
• Meanwhile, she found $54 million in the couch cushions to pay roughly 1.2 percent of the state’s share of the Second Avenue Subway expansion. Where will the rest come from without congestion pricing, Governor? She ain’t saying. (Streetsblog, NY Post, NY Times, Gothamist)
• The Adams administration is touting anti-e-bike fire policies. (NYDN)
• There was a horrific fatal crash in East Harlem on Monday night, the result of a reckless driver. (WPIX)
• Tradeoff: The MTA board voted on Monday to reduce the fine for toll evasion from $100 to $50 in accordance with a deal in Albany that also gave the state the power to revoke the vehicle registrations of violators. (Gothamist)
• “Design flaws” and “lack of training” were behind a 2022 Staten Island Ferry fire, the NTSB said. (gCaptain)
• Clarence Eckerson of Streetfilms paid a visit to the new Washington Bridge bike path:

— with Gersh Kuntzman