A decade-old plan to fill in the gap in the East River greenway near the United Nations is finally moving forward. The city’s Economic Development Corporation last week issued a request for proposals (RFP) from contractors to supervise the construction of the proposed esplanade, which will span less than a mile between East 41st and East 53rd Streets, as first reported by Gothamist. The project is the city’s latest effort to reach its goal of creating a 32-mile cycling and pedestrian path along Manhattan’s waterfront.
East Midtown Greenway opened in December 2023. Photo courtesy of Skanska
“The release of this RFP is another critical milestone towards completing the remaining gaps in the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway,” Adrien Lesser, vice president of media relations and public affairs at NYCEDC, told 6sqft in a statement. “Following last year’s opening of the East Midtown Greenway segment and Andrew Haswell Green Park, today’s RFP represents another major step forward by the Adams administration and NYCEDC to finish the long-envisioned Manhattan Waterfront Greenway.”
“These remarkable capital projects will not only improve the quality of life for New Yorkers but expand opportunities to commute by bike or foot while enjoying spectacular views of the East River. ”
To fill the gap, the esplanade will be constructed atop pillars spanning the waterway. Preliminary contract documents indicate that the expansion will open by the end of 2028 and cost roughly $120 million, according to Gothamist.
In April 2017, former Mayor Bill de Blasio announced it would cost $100 million to close the gap.
Last December, the city opened another section of the greenway, between East 53rd and East 60th Streets. The $197.6 million expansion delivered three acres of public open space, a new pedestrian walkway, a pedestrian bridge, landscaping, and a separate bike lane.
However, the greenway still reaches a dead-end before travelers reach the U.N., forcing bikers and pedestrians to travel along First and Second Avenues instead.
Plans to fill the gap in the greenway date back to former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration.
Other transportation infrastructure improvements will arrive on the East Side in the coming weeks. As reported by Streetsblog, city officials plan to install a protected bike lane along the First Avenue tunnel between East 40th and 49th Streets before the U.N. General Assembly begins on September 10.
Filling in the gaps in the East River greenway builds upon Mayor Eric Adams’ effort to expand the city’s greenway network by 40 miles and bring the total length of greenway corridors to 60 miles.
Additional greenway projects underway include the seven-mile continuous Harlem River Greenway in the Bronx. The new corridor aims to reconnect Bronxites to the Harlem River waterfront, which has been largely inaccessible since the construction of the Major Deegan Expressway in the 1930s.
The city has also identified future projects in the outer boroughs, including Queens’ northern waterfront, southern Queens from Spring Creek Park to the Jamaica Bay shoreline, Staten Island’s waterfront, the South Bronx, and an 11-mile stretch from Coney Island to Highland Park.
$120M project to close gap in Manhattan’s East River greenway moves forward
August 26, 2024
Cover image courtesy of the NYC Economic Development Corporation