Greenway Around Manhattan To Be Finished In $723M Project: Mayor

NEW YORK, NY — The city's long-held goal of building a waterfront path around the island of Manhattan for walkers and cyclists inched closer to reality on Monday, when Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the city would spend $723 million to complete the project by 2029.

"We're going to be doing something unprecedented all around Manhattan: to have the greenway finally completed," de Blasio said Monday as he unveiled his $98.6 billion post-pandemic "recovery budget."

Large chunks of the greenway already exist, like the 11-mile Hudson River bike path on Manhattan's West Side and the 9.4-mile East River Esplanade.

Plans to complete the roughly 32-mile green space around Manhattan have been in the works for years. De Blasio's administration has worked to fill in glaring gaps, like the East Midtown Greenway between East 53rd and 61st streets, and an East Harlem waterfront park between 125th and 132nd streets — both slated to be completed within the next three years.

The funding announced Monday covers different gaps in the greenway: in Upper Manhattan, East Midtown near the United Nations building and in the East Village.

Construction will start in 2023, with design and procurement beginning this year, de Blasio said.

According to City Hall spokesperson Laura Feyer, the $723 million will be broken down as follows:

• Inwood ($307M): Harlem River waterfront from Sherman Creek and Academy Street to the University Heights Bridge at 207th Street
• Harlem and Washington Heights ($170M): Harlem River waterfront from 145th Street to Highbridge Park
• United Nations Esplanade ($117M): East River waterfront from around 41st to 53rd streets (The city has negotiated with the U.N. to fill in the gap behind its campus)
• East River "Pinch Point" ($129M): Would create a bridge over the narrow, four-foot-wide walkway between 13th and 15th streets, next to Con Edison's East River Generating Station

Advocates have pushed the city to close several of those gaps for years. A greenway above 145th Street in Harlem was proposed as early as 2004 under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, while funding for the bridge between 13th and 15th streets was first promised in 2018.

Separately, the $284 million in funding to repair the crumbling East River Esplanade above 94th Street in East Harlem is also included in the upcoming budget but does not make up part of the $723 million, Feyer said.

De Blasio's budget covers the 2022 fiscal year, and will take effect July 1 if the City Council approves it. The $98.6 billion figure would be the city's highest ever, a commitment that de Blasio said was made possible thanks to the roughly $14 billion the city received in last month's federal stimulus package.

Once completed, the Manhattan greenway would add up to more than 1,000 acres of open space — bigger than Central Park, de Blasio said.

"This is a great investment in the future of this city and something I think will be deeply used by future generations," he said.

Monday's announcement was cheered by some local officials, including City Councilmember Keith Powers, who called it "Good news for the East Side."

Others were more skeptical. Assemblymember Robert Rodriguez said he planned to wait and see if the greenway funding remained in the budget by July, citing previous funding commitments and promises of repairs to the East Harlem waterfront that failed to materialize.

"I hope that we can finally realize it — it’s sorely overdue," he told Patch. "That’s being kind."