The Brooklyn Heights Association's Halloween Parade starts Saturday, October 31, at 10:30 a.m. The meeting spot is the top of the ramp at Orange Street and Columbia Heights, the north end of the Promenade, and there's a bake sale whose proceeds pay for the association's free community events. Under the costumes and the bake sale table sits the Triple Cantilever, the stacked roadway that holds up the Promenade. For the next four weeks, the City is taking public input on how it will be rebuilt.

That's the real Brooklyn Heights calendar for November. NYC DOT released its Draft Scope of Work for the BQE Central Project on October 2, 2026. Public comments on that draft must arrive by Monday, November 23. DOT's project page says it will keep access to "portions" of the Promenade "to the extent feasible," and neither that page nor the draft says which portions might close or for how long. The comment period is the formal stage where the public tells the City what its environmental study has to cover.

What the City has put in writing

BQE Central is the City-owned stretch of the expressway, about 1.5 miles from Atlantic Avenue to Sands Street, and it includes the Triple Cantilever. DOT is proposing to repair and strengthen the existing structure, not replace it. The work covers the deck, walls, joints, drainage, railings and lighting. The highway stays at two lanes, and the interchanges stay where they are. DOT's stated goals include extending the structure's life by 40 years and protecting the Promenade "as part of the structure."

The part that matters most for a Sunday walk is the plan to keep traffic moving during construction. DOT's project page describes two temporary bypasses. One is a two-level structure over Furman Street, no taller than the current Queens-bound level. The other runs Queens-bound north of Columbia Heights, over the existing BQE and the Brooklyn Bridge approach. DOT's October 6 presentation splits the work the same way. Bypass #1 over Furman covers Atlantic Avenue to Columbia Heights. Bypass #2 crosses the Vine Street on-ramp, the Brooklyn Bridge and Anchorage Plaza to cover the stretch north of that. The slide notes that the alignments are "illustrative and will be refined through the engagement process." DOT says both structures come down once construction ends.

The Draft Scope expects construction to start in 2029 and finish before 2040. It says DOT is still looking for ways to shorten that. About the walkway itself, the project page makes one commitment:

NYC DOT plans to maintain access to portions of the Promenade at all times, to the extent feasible.

What the draft leaves open

That sentence is the whole of the Promenade commitment. The Draft Scope and DOT's overview materials don't say which segments of the Promenade would close, when they would close, or for how long. The October 6 presentation labels "Phase 1" and "Phase 2" Hicks Street ramps on its diagram, but it gives no dates or durations for either phase.

The draft does list what DOT plans to study, and that list is where Brooklyn Bridge Park comes in. It says construction "may temporarily restrict access to parks" and could affect how parks are used, and it says the environmental study will look at ways to avoid, minimize or mitigate those effects. It also flags shadows. The temporary bypasses would add new structures "above and adjacent to" Brooklyn Bridge Park and other parkland, and "although temporary, these structures may be in place over multiple years," so the study will measure the shade they add. After construction, the open-space study will look at noise, air and shadow effects on nearby public spaces. The draft names the Promenade, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Squibb Park and Hillside Dog Park.

The neighborhood has been through this argument before. Gothamist reported in August that the 2018 proposal under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio would have run a temporary highway along the Promenade and closed it for six years. In the same story, Deputy Mayor Julia Kerson said the current plan "does lessen the community impacts of prior proposals" because it doesn't require closing the whole Promenade. Gothamist also reported that parts of the Promenade would close to build the Furman Street bypass. So the new plan moves from a full six-year closure to partial closures, and the length and location of those closures haven't been set.

Where the neighborhood groups stand

Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the approach in August. According to the same Gothamist report, it would fully close the roadway for repairs, send the corridor's roughly 130,000 vehicles a day onto the temporary highway along Brooklyn Bridge Park's edge, cost an estimated $4 billion and finish by 2040.

Gothamist recorded several positions. Lara Birnback, executive director of the Brooklyn Heights Association, called the plan "depressing" and argued that it keeps the BQE's status quo in place. New Yorkers for Parks asked the City to disclose "the full footprint and duration of construction, any proposed use of parkland," and the effects on park access, noise, air quality, light and the berms. Gothamist also cited a 2023 letter from the Brooklyn Bridge Park board warning against a roadway above Furman Street. The letter said the space between the highway and the park "is still just the two lanes of Furman Street" and compared the job to "threading a needle." Council Member Lincoln Restler, Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon and State Senator Andrew Gounardes said in a joint statement that more delay is "not an option," and they described the rehabilitation as an interim step toward an eventual post-BQE era.

Several of these requests line up with what the Draft Scope leaves open, especially the footprint and the duration. The scoping period is the step where those questions can be added to the study.

The four weeks, in order

DOT describes scoping as the early stage where the public comments on what the Environmental Impact Statement should study, including the topics and study areas in the draft. Here is how the window falls alongside everything else happening in the neighborhood.

1. Thursday, October 29, 6 to 8 p.m. BQE Central Info Session at Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street. You have to register in advance at bit.ly/bqecentral-oct29.
2. Saturday, October 31, 10:30 a.m. The BHA Halloween Parade lines up at the north end of the Promenade. At 2 p.m. the same day, the Center for Brooklyn History offers a free tour of its Battle of Brooklyn exhibition.
3. Wednesday, November 4, 6:30 to 8 p.m. The Center for Brooklyn History hosts "Armed Objects: Weapons, Ornamentation, and the Museum."
4. Thursday, November 5. This is the last day to register for language interpretation at the virtual scoping meeting. From 5 to 8 p.m., the Brooklyn Women's Exchange at 137 Montague Street holds its Holiday Open House, followed by silhouette portrait sessions November 6 through 8.
5. Monday, November 9, 6:30 to 8 p.m. The Center for Brooklyn History hosts "Rebuilding American Democracy."
6. Tuesday, November 10, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Public Scoping Meeting #1, in person, with Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Arabic and ASL interpretation. DOT's project page still lists the location as "to be announced," while its October 6 presentation names City Tech in Downtown Brooklyn. Check nyc.gov/bqe before you go.
7. Thursday, November 12, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Public Scoping Meeting #2 on Zoom. Registration is required at bit.ly/bqecentral-nov12. DOT says both meetings present the same information, so you only need to attend one.
8. Wednesday, November 18, 7 p.m. The BHA Book Club meets at Vineapple.
9. Monday, November 23. Comments on the Draft Scope are due. DOT accepts them four ways. The online form caps comments at 512 characters. You can also email [email protected], mail them to the Division of Bridges BQE Central Project Team at 55 Water Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10041, or speak at either scoping meeting.

The Draft Scope of Work is posted in full. The open-space and construction sections are the ones that cover the Promenade and the park.

What happens after Thanksgiving week

Once comments close, DOT will review them and issue a Final Scope of Work that responds to them and sets the studies for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. DOT expects that document in 2027. Two more approvals sit beyond that. Gothamist reported that the City Council has to approve the project's land use application, and that taking any parkland for the work would need the state legislature's approval. Construction is projected to begin in 2029.

Construction remains years away, and Saturday's parade still meets at the top of the Orange Street ramp at 10:30.

If you own along Columbia Heights, Pierrepont or Montague, the construction timeline from 2029 to 2040 is the kind of detail buyers will ask about in the coming years. Brandon Mason NY tracks these public milestones so sellers and buyers in Brooklyn Heights can plan around them with real dates. If you want to talk through how BQE Central fits your own timing, Schedule a Market Strategy Call.