NYC DOT and NYSDOT, together in a partnership, are seeking a neighborhood access and equity grant (NAE) community planning grant under the RCN FY 2023 program

The New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) received a $5,600,000 Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration's Reconnecting Communities Pilot (RCP) Discretionary Grant Program (CFDA 20.940). The grant, awarded on December 23, 2024, will fund the "BQE Connects" project, which aims to identify and advance concept proposals to improve access and reduce environmental, social, and economic burdens for disadvantaged communities along the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) corridor. The funding will support conceptual design, community engagement, and planning activities to develop viable proposals for reconnecting communities divided by the BQE infrastructure. The project is scheduled for completion by December 31, 2028.

The proposed project, BQE connects, would advance the brooklyn queens expressway (BQE) north and south corridor vision. BQE connects would identify a concept proposal or set of concept proposals to improve access and reduce environmental, social, and economic burdens for disadvantaged communities, and advance those proposals in a minimum of two communities/areas within the BQE north and south extents. NAE funds would identify selected concept proposals, and then complete conceptual design for said proposals, as well as fund community engagement throughout the project.