Trucks keep getting stuck on the Brooklyn Bridge, causing gridlock on BQE
July 20, 2023, 10:38 a.m.
The traffic jams are so frequent that office workers in DUMBO document them in a Slack channel called “#Stuck-Truck.”
Trucks keep getting stuck on the Brooklyn Bridge because they can’t fit — and the recurring fiasco has for years caused miles-long traffic jams as city officials have failed to solve the problem.
About once a week, truck drivers try to enter the bridge from an exit on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and quickly discover their vehicles are too large to cross, according to Michael Cata, a tech consultant who works in DUMBO. His office has a bird’s eye view of the recurring calamity, where emergency crews have to usher the trucks off the bridge while traffic comes to a halt.
“The whole bridge will get backed up,” said Cata. “The BQE gets backed up. The side streets surrounding the area get backed up.”
Cata and his officemates have for years tracked the incidents in a company Slack channel called “#Stuck-Truck.” They regularly gather around a fifth-floor window to marvel at the spectacle.
Trucks aren’t allowed on the Brooklyn Bridge. But lots of truck drivers on the BQE just aren’t getting the message.
The Brooklyn Bridge exit from the eastbound lanes of the BQE is a tight, narrow, uphill turn. When long 18-wheelers try to make the exit, they get stuck on the ramp. And while shorter box trucks can fit through the turn, those drivers quickly realize they can’t fit beneath the bridge’s trusses.
Part of the issue lies with a set of chains that dangle from the Brooklyn Bridge exit sign on the BQE to alert trucks they can’t fit on the bridge. The chains are wrapped around the sign’s pole “probably because they’ve been hit so many times,” Cata said.
And during the warmer months of the year, a sign alerting drivers to the bridge’s 11-foot clearance is partially covered by tree branches and foliage.
Cata said he’s checked Google Maps and seen the problem cause slowdowns as far away as Sunset Park. The situation compounds gridlock on the BQE’s triple-cantilever structure that’s worsened since 2021, when the city cut a traffic lane in each direction to slow the highway’s deterioration.
Trucks also sometimes get stuck after entering the bridge on Sands or Tillary Streets in Brooklyn — but Cata said the BQE exit is the primary choke point.
“It’s a big production when it happens,” he said. “Usually a couple police cruisers come out, the police officers are out there trying to direct traffic.”
Restoring the normal – and still sluggish – flow of traffic takes anywhere from a half-hour to 90 minutes, Cata said.
He and his colleagues have documented nearly 40 stuck trucks on the Brooklyn Bridge over the last 12 months. And those are just the ones they’ve witnessed during working hours
City Department of Transportation officials said emergency crews have since 2020 responded to 59 “misplaced tractor trailers” on the bridge. All but five of those trucks were on the Brooklyn side of the span. The DOT has recorded 36 stuck tractor trailers on the bridge since 2022, which is close to Cata’s unofficial tally.
“NYC DOT strives to enhance traffic flow and keep our bridges moving. We are exploring short-term signage and marking improvements at this location,” agency spokesperson Mona Bruno said in a statement.
After watching the gridlock week after week, Cata last year reached out to federal, state and city transportation agencies. He sent bureaucrats a PowerPoint presentation titled “Failure Patterns: ‘Stuck truck’” that lays out potential solutions to the problem.
He suggested that government officials install tubes on the sign that bonk the tops of trucks that are too tall.
The Federal Highway Administration directed Cata to the state DOT. The state DOT sent him to the city DOT. City officials didn’t respond to Cata’s call for a new clearance bar at the exit, but told him that most of the trucks that end up on the bridge are driven by novice truckers and aren’t owned by major shipping companies with modern navigation systems.
Bruno said the city installed two new signs for the Brooklyn Bridge exit in April. And she said the agency regularly reaches out to shipping and mapping companies to ensure drivers are schooled on the city’s trucking routes.
But those measures haven’t solved the problem. Cata witnessed a truck stuck on the bridge this past Friday and another on Monday.
“I think it ultimately boils down to the city’s Department of Transportation to make a decision here,” said Cata. “As someone who’s been stuck in traffic before, this is not fun. And it feels like something where if there’s a quick fix to be had, I think pushing it through is an easy win.”