By 2018 almost all portions of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway will be in their permanent states. There are, however, some portions of the island where implementation challenges mean that only very long-term planning is possible. These sites are expected to have greenways in the future, but when is not clear.

The waterfront sites without greenways will be concentrated on the Harlem River; it is unlikely that some of these sites will ever have esplanades. These areas are: Dyckman Street north to the Broadway Bridge and west of the Broadway Bridge along the Harlem River. For more information look at the missing links maps of these sites.

Two other large sections of the borough’s waterfront are expected to get paths eventually, though. The first is from East 51st to East 60th Street where the FDR is at grade and directly adjacent to the East River. To create a bike path in this area it would be necessary to build a permanent cantilevered structure outboard of the FDR. There are no current plans for this to take place, but it is possible that it will happen as part of future FDR reconstruction.

The second area stretches from West 155th to West 162nd Street on the Harlem River. Here the topography of the land and the proximity of the Harlem River Drive to the Harlem River demand that any waterfront bike and pedestrian path be a cantilevered structure. There are no plans for this at present, but it could take place with future reconstruction of the Harlem River Drive.