Greenway Corridors

Read the latest news on this subject.

New York State

In 1989, the state legislature passed the Hudson Valley Greenway Act authorizing the planning of a 150-mile greenway from Battery Park to Troy. To pay for the planning, the Greenway Council initially recommended a hotel tax of 20¢ per $100 room, applied in each of the counties along the route. But New York City objected, reasoning that its contribution — an estimated $287,000 a year — would be disproportionately high for a project that would largely benefit upstate residents.

As an alternative, the Dinkins administration suggested that the money it is spending to produce a comprehensive citywide waterfront plan be counted as its contribution. The legislature responded by removing New York City from the greenway, and the situation is still unresolved.

Bronx and Westchester

Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx. The Bronx Borough President's office is pushing for an ambitious borough-wide greenway system. Photo: Doug Goodman.

The Bronx Borough President's office and the Department of City Planning, with the assistance of the Consumer Farmer Foundation, NOSC and local community organizations, are planning an 11-route Bronx Greenway System through all 12 Bronx community boards. A South Bronx route could connectexisting parks and link the North Bronx system, Manhattan, Randall's Island, and the Brooklyn/Queens Greenway. The Bronx River Restoration is developing a path from the mouth of the river to the Westchester border. Part of the route already exists as the unmarked Bronx River Bikepath.

In place since 1979, the North Bronx bikeway is marred by lack of signs, lack of pedestrian-cyclist separation, poor intersections with roads, and highway guardrails and other obstacles. This route can be fixed inexpensively and expanded into a greenway system by marking and maintaining the park routes through which it runs.

From Westchester to the Whitestone Bridge, a deteriorating path along the Hutchinson River Parkway has received priority for construction funds from city and state greenway planners. This path is a key link in the proposed East Coast Greenway through Boston, New York City and Washington, DC.

Manhattan

The newly established Hudson River Park Conservancy has stated that one of its first acts will be to create interim bicycle and pedestrian ways along Manhattan's West Side from Battery Park to 59th Street. Meanwhile, T.A. and greenway advocates are working to solve bike access problems in Inwood, Fort Tryon and Riverside Parks. A bikeway system should be able to link the Henry Hudson Bridge, the Hudson River waterfront, the George Washington Bridge and the planned Bronx Greenway system. Although some City Parks officials seem hesitant on the subject of continuous bicycle access along the Hudson River in upper Manhattan, reports by both the Department of City Planning and the Manhattan Borough President's office call for a continuous Manhattan waterfront greenway.

The Manhattan Borough President's office and others are pursuing a continuous East River path from the Battery to the Bronx. This route, first proposed in the Lindsay administration, would form part of the East Coast Greenway. A footbridge will be needed to cross the FDR Drive north of the U.N. complex. Parks Commissioner Gotbaum toured the route in September 1990, but as yet the city has made no firm plans.

Brooklyn and Queens

In addition to the Brooklyn/Queens Greenway, a number of actual and potential greenways need public and official attention. A seven-mile cross-Brooklyn Rail Corridor (the Long Island Rail Road Bay Ridge freight branch) could become a rail-and-trail route connecting the Shore Bikepath in Bay Ridge with the BQG at Ocean Parkway and in Highland Park.

The Shore Parkway bikepath, once the gem of Robert Moses' system of bike-pedestrian paths, marked its 50th anniversary in 1991 in disrepair. An initiative to restore the bikeway is underway, involving the city Parks and Trans-portation departments, federal park authorities and the Brooklyn Borough President's office.

A Queens/East River Greenway could be extended by restoring Moses' Flushing Bay Path and including bicycle facilities on McGuiness Boulevard in Brooklyn. A first step would be a DoT plan to divert motor traffic from Vernon Boulevard in Queens when possible and add a designated bikelane there and on McGuiness. A rail-trail conversion of the LIRR's abandoned Jamaica Bay branch could connect the Brooklyn/Queens Greenway at Forest Park to the Jamaica Wildlife Refuge and Shore Parkway path, creating a Rockaway/Gateway Greenway.

Staten Island

The abandoned Staten Island Rail Road (SIRR), being considered for trail conversion, would be a link in the East Coast Greenway as well as a cultural and commuter bike route for Staten Island. Greenways advocates are working to develop a loop route connecting the SIRR path with Staten Island's Greenbelt park system.

A Staten Island South Shore Greenway can be created by adding a path and greenery between the FDR Boardwalk and Father Capodanno Boulevard, including a new right-of-way south of the Great Kills part of Gateway National Park, preferably along the beach.

New Jersey

Two parallel greenway proposals, a Hudson River Esplanade and a Palisades Greenway, would run a few blocks apart from Palisades to Liberty State Parks. In 1988 the Regional Plan Association proposed a meandering bicycle parkway along the Palisades, which would link the Hudson River Greenway and the East Coast Greenway at the Bayonne Bridge.

A Bergen Arches Greenway could be one of the most beautiful urban parks on the East Coast. The route — an abandoned rail corridor through the Palisades — is now a green canyon rich with wildlife. The corridor should be preserved and connected across the Meadowlands through Newark to the Patriot's Path Greenway now underway to the west. The proposed Hackensack River Greenway would also connect to this path.