Musical route

A deeply disliked stretch of road has proven a powerful inspiration for a symphony written by musician Sufjan Stevens. The man was commissioned to write a piece of music about his home city by the Brooklyn Academy of Music and he opted to compose his piece about the infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Called the BQE by New Yorkers, the flyover features narrow lanes, has no hard shoulder and is badly potholed, while high traffic volumes mean that jams and accidents are frequent and it has the dubious honour
February 23, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
A deeply disliked stretch of road has proven a powerful inspiration for a symphony written by musician Sufjan Stevens. The man was commissioned to write a piece of music about his home city by the Brooklyn Academy of Music and he opted to compose his piece about the infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Called the BQE by New Yorkers, the flyover features narrow lanes, has no hard shoulder and is badly potholed, while high traffic volumes mean that jams and accidents are frequent and it has the dubious honour of being one of the two most congested roads in the US (the other is in Los Angeles). Stevens explained that the BQE is so loathed by its users that he wanted to transform the image of this despised route into something of beauty. The symphony also provides the soundtrack for a short film he made about the expressway. The city authorities plan to replace the road but in the mean time, some angry drivers caught in jams could be soothed if the music were to be played over a public address system.

Related Content

  • Trimble’s latest advance in machine controls
    April 12, 2018
    Trimble is building on proven technology with its latest advances for the machine control segment - Mike Woof writes With new systems coming to market, Trimble is keen to retain its strong position in the machine control segment. The firm is now introducing advanced technology for the bulldozer segment, which utilises similar systems to the Earthworks package unveiled for excavators at the CONEXPO show in early 2017. Eric Crim is product manager for machine control systems in Trimble's heavy & highway
    Read More
  • Mexico’s new Jala-Puerto Vallarta Highway
    August 29, 2017
    Mexico’s highway infrastructure plays a key role in the country’s economy, carrying around 55% of its freight and 98% of its passenger traffic. To meet this demand, the network has 377,660km of roads in all. This is split between the 49,652km federal highway network, the 83,982km of state roads, 169.429km of rural roads and 74,596km of access roads. mHowever, although the federal road network manages to connect a large part of the country's strategic points, some stretches already present problems with satu
    Read More
  • Getting a foothold on road safety
    September 3, 2012
    The Indian businessman, Rohit Baluja, has become one of the most articulate and outspoken advocates of road safety in developing countries. A leading figure in his country’s shoe industry, Baluja was converted to the cause that has become his lifelong passion during regular business trips to Europe
    Read More
  • Grand achievement for Intermountain
    July 18, 2012
    A versatile solution has helped with a tricky project at the Grand Canyon in the US – Pierre Peltier When Intermountain Slurry Seal, a division of Granite Construction, submitted its bid in 2009 to repair roads and parking lots along the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, the company knew the job would come with challenges. The remote roads leading from Jacob’s Lake, Arizona, to the North Rim Lodge had deteriorated to a point that the Federal Highway Association’s (FHWA) Central Federal Lands (CFL) Highway Division
    Read More

Highlighted Content