The East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) project enhances connections between local communities and East River Park through improvements to four key access points across the FDR with improved ADA-accessibility, including three pedestrian bridges—Corlears Hook Bridge, Delancey Street Bridge, and the East 10th Street Bridge – as well as the Houston Street entry.

The Corlears Hook Bridge will be replaced and will connect to Corlears Hook Park, which will provide a regraded, universally accessible approach to East River Park. The Delancey Street and East 10th Street pedestrian bridges will also be replaced and will incorporate wider, universally accessible ramps that land graciously within the elevated East River Park, eliminating the need for traveling along switchback ramps within the park.

Corlears Hook Bridge.

Delancey Street Bridge.

10th Street Bridge.

The Houston Street entry will feature an expanded and reconfigured park-side entryway. The enhanced entryway will provide the community with safer, more direct, at-grade access to East River Park and the waterfront.

Houston Street Overpass with an enhanced at-grade entry to East River Park.

The 20th Street entry to Stuyvesant Cove Park will include a reconfigured parking lot beneath the FDR Drive for improved pedestrian access, as well as enhanced pedestrian crossings at Avenue C, and the installation of accessible pedestrian signals.

Enhanced pedestrian crossings at the 20th Street Pedestrian Plaza .

The ESCR project will reconstruct the Manhattan Greenway that runs along the west side of East River Park and Stuyvesant Cove Park. Within East River Park, the Manhattan Greenway will be a 22-foot wide shared path that includes an asphalt bike lane and a concrete pedestrian lane. This shared path will also be able to accommodate maintenance and emergency vehicles. Meeting the existing Greenway at the southern end of the project, the shared path will weave upland into the park and connect to passive and active recreational areas.

The Manhattan Greenway Shared-Use Path at the southern end of East River Park.

Within Stuyvesant Cove Park, the Manhattan Greenway will include an asphalt bike path that runs parallel to the flood protection and separates cyclists from pedestrians at the waterfront. The Greenway will meet the existing shared-use path at the southern and northern ends of Stuyvesant Cove Park.

The Manhattan Greenway runs parallel to the floodwall at Stuyvesant Cove Park.

ESCR project construction also includes the installation of foundations for a shared-use flyover bridge to improve the City's greenway network and provide a widened connection where the existing Manhattan Greenway narrows near the Con Edison facility. The flyover bridge will elevate the greenway above the FDR Drive between East 13th Street and East 15th Street, tying into elevated parkland at the north end of East River Park and returning to grade at the Captain Patrick J. Brown Walk. The bridge will be constructed as part of a separate capital project.

The proposed path for the Flyover Bridge.

The ESCR project will include an improved and elevated East River Esplanade that will be integrated with the new raised topography from Corlears Hook to the northern end of East River Park. To provide maximum connection to the water, two embayments with steps descending to the East River will be constructed, one close to the Amphitheater and another east of the Houston Street entry to the park. Seating and site furnishings on the esplanade will be replaced and expanded to include a greater diversity of seating types and amenities, such as picnic and BBQ areas near the water's edge. The elevated esplanade structure will include pockets of trees that will provide shade for pedestrians and cyclists.

The embayment near the improved Houston Street park entry allows closer access to the waterfront.

Access to the Corlears Hook and Stuyvesant Cove ferry landings will be maintained throughout construction. The project's design improves access to the East River ferry landings.
NYC Ferry