Residents may be inconvenienced by expressway construction off Verrazzano

BAY RIDGE — With the MTA announcement that work will begin next week to improve traffic flow and safety merges exiting the Verrazzano after 92^nd Street toward Fort Hamilton Parkway, some residents have voiced concern about just how much they will be impacted and inconvenienced during the year it will take to complete the project.

The plan is to expand and widen the roadway on the Brooklyn side of the bridge in order to save motorists time in transit and help reduce congestion along the expressway.

U.S. Rep. Max Rose has voiced his support for the $18 million project but also expressed concerns regarding the toll it will take on residents living near the expressway. “It’s bad enough we have out-of-state trucks clogging our roads, but on top of that we have outdated roadways and crumbling infrastructure,” Rose told this paper.

“These badly-needed investments will improve safety and traffic, but we need to be clear that this should not impact the daily life of residents in the process,” he added.

Joyce Mulvaney, MTA director of community affairs, explained that while the forced merge will ultimately improve traffic flow and safety and help alleviate back-ups, there will be short-term inconveniences that residents will face.

“Most of this work will be done behind a barrier, with only off-peak lane closures,” said Mulvaney. “There will be night work that may produce noise. Contractors have commenced a saw-cutting operation, but this will be for a couple weeks at most. This work is all eastbound, except for some future signage upgrades in the westbound [Staten Island-bound] direction,” she added.

Tommy Mayrose, who lives near the area earmarked for the construction, said that he hoped the disruption would be minimal but was pleased with the scope of the project.

“I think this work is badly needed and I’m not looking forward to the lights and noise that will probably be a part of it,” Mayrose told this paper. “However, I feel the short-term inconvenience is well worth the promise of a better roadway and a less congested exit ramp at Fort Hamilton Parkway.”