The Manhattan Waterfront Greenway is a waterfront greenway for

walking Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined as an " inverted pendulum" gait in which the body vaults o ...

cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

, long, around the island of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The largest portions are operated by the

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...

. It is separated from motor traffic, and many sections also separate

pedestrian A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, by wheelchair or with other mobility aids. Streets and roads often have a designated footpath for pedestrian traffic, called the '' sidewalk'' in North American English, the ''pavement'' in British En ...

s from cyclists. There are three principal parts — the East, Harlem and Hudson River Greenways.

Components

Hudson River Greenway

The Hudson River Greenway is the longest greenway in Manhattan, running along the West Side, from

Battery Park The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan#Manhattan Island, Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. The park is bounded by Battery Place on the north, with Bowling ...

in the south -- mostly through

Hudson River Park Hudson River Park is a waterfront park on the North River (Hudson River) that extends from 59th Street south to Battery Park in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The park, a component of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, stretches and ...

, Riverside Park, and

Fort Washington Park Fort Washington, located near the community of Fort Washington, Maryland, was for many decades the only defensive fort protecting Washington, D.C. The original fort, overlooking the Potomac River, was completed in 1809, and was begun as Fort ...

-- to Dyckman Street in the north. A gap in West

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

was filled in early October 2008 with the opening of the Harlem Piers bike lane. A roughly 10-block detour in the west 80s, where a walkway had crumbled into the river in the late 20th century, was eliminated on May 20, 2010, when the rebuilt section of greenway was opened. The Hudson River Greenway is the most heavily used bikeway in the United States. The majority of it is close to

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

water level, except the portion north of

George Washington Bridge The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee in Bergen County, New Jersey, with the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It is named after George W ...

where it climbs steeply, to approximately and includes Inspiration Point, with views of The Palisades in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

across the river and of the

to the south. The Hudson River Greenway is part of the

East Coast Greenway The East Coast Greenway is a pedestrian and bicycle route between Maine and Florida along the East Coast of the United States. The nonprofit East Coast Greenway Alliance was created in 1991 with the goal to use the entire route with off-road, s ...

, a trail system connecting Maine to Florida, and is also part of the statewide Empire State Trail, forming its southernmost portion. At the downtown end, the Battery Bikeway connects the Hudson and East River Greenways via the Battery and Peter Minuit Plaza. It opened in 2015 after renovation work on the South Ferry/Whitehall Street station. The connection is a biker crossing

right of way A right of way (also right-of-way) is a specific route that people, animals, vehicles, watercraft, or utility lines travel, or the legal status that gives them the right to do so. Rights-of-way in the physical sense include controlled-access h ...

across Battery Place to the foot of the Hudson River Greenway. At the Battery's southeast end, the bikeway continues as the East River Greenway, which runs next to

FDR Drive Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive, commonly known as the FDR Drive, is a controlled-access parkway on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It starts near South and Broad Streets, just north of the Battery Park Underpas ...

. Travelers to

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

use a bike lane in Warren Street and a one-way bike path (opened in September 2008) through the north end of

City Hall Park City Hall Park is a public park surrounding New York City Hall in the Civic Center of Manhattan. It was the town commons of the nascent city of New York. History 17th century David Provoost came to New Netherland as early as 1638, probab ...

to connect to the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a cable-stayed suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River. It w ...

. Those arriving from Brooklyn use lanes in Park Row and Murray Street to reach the Greenway. Mixed-use paths continue a mile north from Dyckman Street into Inwood Hill Park alongside the western ball fields, at which point the path crosses the Amtrak rail tracks using a bridge with steps. This continues northeast into the park as part of the park trail system and connects north to bikeways in Spuyten Duyvil in the Bronx via the

Henry Hudson Bridge The Henry Hudson Bridge is a double-deck steel arch bridge, arch toll bridge in New York City across the Spuyten Duyvil Creek. It connects Spuyten Duyvil, Bronx, Spuyten Duyvil in the Bronx with Inwood, Manhattan, Inwood in Manhattan to the sou ...

, and east to the bike lane on 218th Street leading to the Broadway Bridge. ''The Harbor Ring'' is an initiative to create a bike route along the Lower Hudson River,

Upper New York Bay New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay ...

, and

Kill van Kull __NOTOC__ The Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait between Staten Island, New York (state), New York, and Bayonne, New Jersey, Bayonne, New Jersey, in the United States. It is approximately long and wide and connects Newark Bay with Upper New York ...

that would incorporate bike paths along the Greenway. A portion of the Greenway between west 72nd and 83rd Streets is devoted to just pedestrians and the bike path was redirected onto other paths, including part of the roundabout above the 79th Street Boat Basin. An attack on the Greenway on October 31, 2017 killed six tourists and two local people; the perpetrator was an Uzbek-American and he used a Home Depot truck in the attacks.

East River Greenway

The East River Greenway runs along the East Side, from

and past

South Street Seaport The South Street Seaport is a historic area in the New York City borough of Manhattan, centered where Fulton Street meets the East River, within the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. The Seaport is a designated historic district. It is p ...

to a dead end at 125th Street,

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem, or , is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City, north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fifth Avenue to the west, and the East and Harlem Rivers to the eas ...

with a gap from 41st to 53rd streets in Midtown where pedestrians and cyclists use busy

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and

Second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

Avenues to get around

United Nations Headquarters The headquarters of the United Nations (UN) is on of grounds in the Turtle Bay, Manhattan, Turtle Bay neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It borders First Avenue (Manhattan), First Avenue to the west, 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd ...

between the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...

and

Kips Bay Kips Bay, or Kip's Bay, is a neighborhood on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by 34th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 23rd Street to the south, and Third Avenue to the west. Kips B ...

portions of the Greenway. Some places are narrow due to sinkholes being blocked off by protective fencing, and the Captain Patrick J. Brown Walk squeezes between the highway and the dock of

Con Edison Consolidated Edison, Inc., commonly known as Con Edison (stylized as conEdison) or ConEd, is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the United States, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues as of 2017, and over $62 ...

's East River Station, requiring slower speeds. Other parts are shared space with motor access to Waterside Plaza (at

Stuyvesant Cove Park Stuyvesant Cove Park is a public park on the East Side of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan that runs from 18th Street to 23rd Street (Manhattan), 23rd Street between the Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive, FDR ...

), or a filling station. Approximately a mile near the southwest end is in the shadow of the elevated

. This part is to be improved by the East River Esplanade project. In the summer of 2008 the East River Greenway, along with the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, provided viewing locations to see the New York City Waterfalls. In August 2024, the

New York City Economic Development Corporation New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) is a public-benefit corporation that serves as the official economic development organization for New York City. NYCEDC gives its mission as strengthening business confidence in New York C ...

announced plans to complete the segment of the greenway between 41st and 53rd streets; the extension would cost $120 million and open in 2028.

Harlem River Greenway

Partially following the route of the old Harlem River Speedway, the Harlem River Greenway is the shortest portion of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway and is completely uninterrupted, running north through lower Highbridge Park from 155th Street, at the north end of Harlem, to Dyckman Street in northern Manhattan. It lies between the

Harlem River The Harlem River is an tidal strait in New York City, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the United States mainland. The northern stretch, also called the Spuyten Duyvi ...

and

Harlem River Drive Harlem River Drive is a 4.20-mile (6.76 km) controlled-access highway, controlled-access Parkways in New York, parkway in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs along the west bank of the Harlem River from the Triborough Bridge in ...

. Users of the East River Greenway must use ordinary streets through

to reach this portion. A bike lane in Dyckman Street through Inwood connects to Inwood Hill Park and the Hudson River Greenway via a 2015 bike ramp at the western end of Dyckman Street. A second, shorter Harlem River Greenway is in Harlem River Park, running from about 133rd Street in the south to 145th Street in the north. Access to the greenway is via walkways at 135th, 139th, and 142nd streets. The city has proposed to extend Harlem River Park south to 125th Street, where the greenway could connect to the East River Greenway; also to extend Harlem River Greenway north, into the Bronx.

Storm barrier

There are plans for a storm barrier along the southern third of the greenway, from West 57th St. down to the Battery, and back up to East 42nd St. , parts of this plan have been implemented along the East River Greenway. The final proposal, which is geographically U-shaped, will include many features. Under the elevated

structure above South Street will be storm barriers hanging from the viaduct's ceiling, which will drop down in case of a storm. A "Battery Berm" will be located at

, and a maritime museum will be opened on the site of a former Coast Guard building there. The proposal, by Rebuild by Design, will also include components for storm barriers in Hunts Point, Bronx and on

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

. The first component, a barrier on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

between Montgomery and East 13th Streets called "The Bridging Berm", will cost $335 million. In addition to storm protection, the berm—the first of three of the barrier's components—will also provide a pedestrian pathway and bikeway on top of berm, boating and fishing docks, a slope down to current sports fields, upgraded ADA-accessible ramps for bridges across the FDR Drive, and construction materials such as "slurry walls, concrete blocks, a compacted embankment, a clay cap, topsoil and salt-tolerant landscaping." The berm bikeway will make a second connection between the Hudson and East River Greenways (the first being the Battery Bikeway). The total cost of the project is over $3.5 billion. In March 2019, then New York City mayor

Bill de Blasio Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961; later Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm) is an American politician who was the List of mayors of New York City, 109th mayor of New York City, mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. A member of t ...

announced a Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency Plan, which would create barriers and possibly extend the shoreline at a cost of $10 billion. At the time, four of the project's phases had funding and were set to start construction between 2020 and 2021. The projects include berms as well as retractable dams and barriers in Battery Park City, the Financial District, and Two Bridges. In 2019, the city installed a temporary barrier while the permanent barrier is being erected.

References

Notes

External links

Manhattan Waterfront Greenway Bike Map
East River Greenway:
Friends of the East River Greenway
{{Authority control Cycling in New York City Bike paths in New York City Greenways in New York City Harlem River Hudson River Hudson River Park Hiking trails in New York City Parks in Manhattan Port of New York and New Jersey Redeveloped ports and waterfronts in the United States Transportation in Manhattan Waterfronts