By 2018 most of the planned improvements to the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway will have taken place. The construction on the Harlem River bridges will be complete and all of the cantilevered structures needed along the Hudson River will be in place.
Con
Edison Parking
Between East 38th and East 41st streets, a parking lot for Con Edison’s employees sits on the waterfront land. Over the next eight years, the Con Edison plant on East 38th Street will be decommissioned and the parking lot will no longer be needed. At this time, the land will be converted to a greenway with paths for pedestrians and wheeled users. This greenway will connect to Glick Park to the south.
Map
and rendering of site.
Harlem
River
Over the next decade, three of the bridges across the Harlem River will be repaired and reconstructed by the Department of Transportation (DOT). The waterfront, which is being used as a staging ground for the reconstruction, is closed to the public until the bridge repairs are complete. After DOT finishes the reconstruction of the Harlem River bridges, the staging area from East 125th Street to East 139th Street will be ceded to the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR), which will relocate the salt pile at East 125th Street and turn the whole riverbank into parkland. This park will connect to Harlem River Park, which sits just north on the river, and there will be a greenway through both.
From West 141st Street to West 145th Street the greenway is currently in disrepair. The City is confident that over the next several years funding will be found to improve the path and connect it to the greenway to the south.
From West 145th Street to West 151st Street, the waterfront is leased to Esplanade Gardens Housing, which uses the waterfront land as a parking lot and a location for its garbage dumpsters. The City is confident that an agreement can be reached with Esplanade Gardens’ management to create an easement through the lot for a path. The path will then connect on-street to the 155th Street entrance ramp on the speedway, which gives access to the greenway at 162nd Street.
Map
and rendering of site.
Riverside
Park
From West 91st Street to West 83rd Street, the Henry Hudson Parkway is too close to the Hudson River for both cyclists and pedestrians to use the path. To widen the esplanade, DPR plans to build a cantilevered, shared-use path in this location. DPR has partial funding for this, but still needs more for completion. When this stretch of greenway is completed, it will be possible to travel all the way from the Battery to Dyckman Street next to the water. Map
of site.
