Mayor Adams announces the expansion of the Harlem River Greenway. Image Credit: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office.
On March 22, 2023, Mayor Eric Adams announced a plan to expand the Harlem River Greenway to the Bronx. Greenways are linear open spaces on public land available for pedestrian and cycling use and provide communities access to greenery. The expanded route will provide communities in the west Bronx with access to the waterfront via off-street paths and on-street bike facilities. The route will expand to seven miles, connecting Randall’s Island to Van Cortlandt Park.
The Greenway expansion will be a collaborative effort between the New York City Department of Transportation, the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, and other related city agencies. The expansion of the Harlem River Greenway is part of the $7.25 million federal grant awarded to New York City to plan for the next generation of greenways with a focus on expanding the network to historically underserved communities and encouraging sustainable transportation. Read further coverage of the grant here.
Beginning in April, the New York City Department of Transportation will begin a community engagement process to create a strategic plan for implementation of the expanded Greenway route. Community engagement will take the form of public workshops and pop-up events in which residents can give input on how they would prefer the space to be used. Three online workshops will be held to cover individual segments of the expanded route. The first workshop will take place on Tuesday, April 18th from 6 to 8 PM discussing the segment from Wan Courtlandt Park to the University Heights Bridge. For how to register, and future workshops, click here.
The implementation plan for the expanded Greenway will be published in 2024.
Mayor Adams stated, “Greenways help us move forward while righting the wrongs of the past, give people a place where they can exercise and breathe freely, and create a sense of community by bringing people together.”
DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez stated, “Historic disinvestment and highway construction has, for decades, severed Bronxites connection to their waterfront. This administration is… ensuring communities in the Bronx have safe cycling connections and pedestrian access to and along the Harlem River shoreline, one of the city’s most beautiful natural landscapes.”
By: Vanessa Cameron (Vanessa is a CityLaw intern and a New York Law School student, Class of 2024.)
And yet, the three gaps in the East Side Manhattan Greenway remain – 1 by the U.N., to be officially cut in half this fall when the 53-63 street Greenway bypass opens, leaving the 41-53 street gap, and 2 in Harlem: 123-133, which awaits esplanade creation on existing land, and 1 from 145-155, where parking lots and other obstacles will remain indefinitely. Of course, there is no Greenway above Dyckman Street either, and the LES is closed at different places while the park is being raised 8′ above sea level.
Somehow, Manhattan’s “Green necklace” does not get the attention promised for over 2 decades to complete it, while the outer boroughs get all the attention, and money.