Queens officials and NYSDOT outline Van Wyck Expressway widening, HOV lane and sewer work, with finish expected in 2026
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Summary
New York State DOT told a Queens Borough briefing that the Van Wyck reconstruction (including a managed-use HOV lane, bridge widenings, noise mitigation and a large sewer connection) is largely complete in sections and is expected to finish in 2026; DOT described mitigation, a 2,800‑tree planting plan and final paving steps.
The Queens Borough President and New York State Department of Transportation officials presented progress updates on the Van Wyck Expressway reconstruction, describing a multi-contract program of bridge widenings, a new managed-use (HOV) lane into John F. Kennedy International Airport and major underground drainage work that DOT says will lower the local water table.
"We now have a $20,000,000,000 investment in JFK," the Borough President said, framing the Van Wyck work as part of broader airport capacity improvements and praising the Region 11 construction teams. He told attendees the project employed roughly 450 workers on average and highlighted a connected sewer project intended to move large volumes of water out of Southeast Queens.
Dailene Abraham Beline, project director and director of construction for NYSDOT Region 11, said the Van Wyck program consists of four separate projects. "The Van Wyck Expressway is a capacity improvement project," she said, describing work that addresses structural and geometric deficiencies and aims to improve traffic safety. Contract 1 and an Atlantic 6 prototype were delivered earlier (DOT cited one bridge set completed in 2020 and another contract finished in November 2023); the largest remaining segment, Contract 3 (about 4.8 miles), includes the widening that adds the HOV lane and is expected to be completed in 2026.
DOT described the new lane as a managed-use, two‑plus HOV lane — a 12-foot lane with a 2-foot buffer — restricted to vehicles with at least two occupants and excluding trucks (vehicles‑for‑hire with a passenger would be allowed). The agency said the HOV will provide a dedicated route into airport terminals and reduce the need for airport-bound traffic to mix with local and long-distance flows. DOT also described two enforcement staging areas and a network of cameras tied to a joint traffic management center with NYPD and city DOT for incident response.
The presentation listed several mitigation measures aimed at nearby residents: 12 new noise walls (about 10,000 feet total, ranging 8–28 feet in height), roughly 17,000 feet of retaining wall, air and noise monitoring, dust and rodent control, new lighting, upgraded signals and ADA ramps on service roads, and a community liaison for project notices and traffic-change alerts.
DOT also described an underground "double-barrel" sewer that it said includes about 2,000 feet already constructed; engineers noted the work required extensive dewatering. "We had to have pumps running 24/7," Louis Oresti, the engineer in charge, said, describing continuous pumping over the course of the construction to manage the high water table and allow placement of concrete and pile foundations.
Renderings and drone images shown at the briefing illustrated new exit and loop ramps that will route traffic differently to reach specific terminals, plus a new bridge structure to carry the managed-use lane above existing southbound lanes. DOT said some ramps were re‑landed away from intersections to reduce crash risk, and that the Port Authority's westbound connector and DOT's loop ramp are being coordinated where the two projects meet.
DOT said landscaping and stormwater features are part of the plan: it expects to plant about 2,800 trees across the corridor and construct bio-retention basins intended to capture overflow from the enlarged drainage system and route that water into treatment. Officials said the final top paving will be done in one pass after all staging, drainage and striping are finished so the corridor is left in a single clean state.
DOT repeated a near-term schedule: remaining paving, final striping and finishing touches on service roads and ramps should occur in the coming weeks and months, with the agency describing the current work as the last major DOT phase on the Van Wyck. The Borough President closed by promising a public ribbon-cutting celebration when the project is complete.
The briefing did not include a formal vote or regulatory action; attendees were invited to ask questions and DOT provided contact information for a community liaison for follow-up.
