BROOKLYN-QUEENS EXPRESSWAY

The 'Brooklyn Queens Expressway' ('BQE') is an expressway which runs from southern Brooklyn, New York to the Grand Central Parkway in Queens, New York. It is a portion of Interstate 278.
The highway is mainly elevated in Brooklyn, with some open-cut sections. In Queens, the highway is a mix of elevated, open-cut and at-grade sections. The BQE was built from the 1950s, and was completed in 1964 as a crowning achievement of Robert Moses, who still sparks debate today, being blamed for the deindustrialization of Red Hook. The part that passes over the Gowanus Canal leading to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, as well as its southern extension to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge,
is known as the Gowanus Expressway.
A section along the harbor in downtown Brooklyn is partially covered to create the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.

North of downtown Brooklyn, it passes through the Williamsburg neighborhood, then crosses Newtown Creek to Queens on the Kosciuszko Bridge.
Motorists may encounter difficulity finding an entrance onto the BQE from Brooklyn side streets, as illustrated in the 1990 movie, ''Quick Change'', starring Bill Murray. Murray and his cohorts escape from their Manhattan bank robbery in their getaway car, only to take the wrong turn from the BQE — they are unable to get back on. Murray finds a sign reading "To I-278," but the arrow at the bottom of the sign rotates around, and around. The Brooklyn Queens Expressway is infamous for rush hour traffic congestion.
The BQE is referred to in the song 'Rusty The Skatemaker' by the alternative rock band Rasputina who began in Brooklyn, New York in 1992.

Contents

Exit list

Exit list

Exit	Destination	Notes
Continues from the Gowanus Expressway
'27'	Atlantic Avenue
'28A'	Cadman Plaza West	eastbound only
'28B'	Brooklyn Bridge	eastbound only
(28A/28B combined into single exit 28 westbound)
'29A'	Manhattan Bridge	eastbound only
'29B'	Tillary Street	eastbound only
(29A/29B combined into single exit 29 westbound)
'30'	Flushing Avenue	eastbound only
'31'	Wythe Avenue/Kent Avenue	westbound only
'32A'	Williamsburg Bridge	westbound only
'32B'	Metropolitan Avenue	westbound only
(32A/32B combined into single exit 32 eastbound)
'33'	McGuinness Boulevard/Humboldt Street	eastbound only
'34'	Meeker Avenue/Morgan Avenue	westbound only
Traverses the Kosciuszko Bridge into the Borough of Queens
'35E/W'	I-495 - Long Island Expressway	35E to Riverhead, 35W to Manhattan via Queens-Midtown Tunnel
'35A'	48 Street	eastbound only, accessible through Exit 35.
'39E/W'	NY 25 - Queens Boulevard	39E to Elmhurst, 39W to Queensboro Bridge and Manhattan
'40'	Roosevelt Avenue/Broadway
'41'	NY 25A - Northern Boulevard
'42'	Grand Central Parkway East to LaGuardia Airport	eastbound only
Going eastbound, the BQE divides into two "legs" at Exit 42. The western leg (continuing the I-278 designation) eventually becomes the Grand Central Parkway westbound and traverses the Triboro Bridge. The eastern leg becomes the Grand Central Parkway eastbound and provides access to LaGuardia Airport.
'43'	30th Avenue	westbound only; exit from eastern leg of the BQE only
'44'	Astoria Boulevard	westbound only; exit from western leg of the BQE only
Becomes the Grand Central Parkway