For Once, Good News About the B.Q.E.
Almost no one ever has anything positive to say about the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. The rare exception is a new report from the city's Department of Transportation.
The report says nothing about the usual complaints — too-narrow lanes, too many potholes, too-frequent slowdowns. Its main finding is that fewer too-heavy trucks are heading toward Queens from the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.
City transportation officials credit hidden sensors, essentially electronic scales under the pavement. The sensors can spot trucks that weigh more than regulations allow. The city says that the number of overweight vehicles dropped 60 percent after the Department of Transportation began sending out violation notices based on readings from the sensors, along with $650 fines.
'The results speak for themselves,' said Ydanis Rodriguez, the transportation commissioner. In the report, he wrote that the 'incredible effectiveness' of the sensors showed how they 'could be expanded to protect and extend the life span of other transportation infrastructure.'
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