Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Bicycling

Sneak Preview: Stringer’s “Blueway Plan” for East River Greenway

The East River Blueway plan proposes an elevated greenway to improve connections for cyclists and pedestrians around the ConEd plant at 14th Street. Image: WXY Architects

Compared to its West Side counterpart, the East River Greenway needs some help. It could serve as a continuous waterfront park and a trunk route for bicycling on the East Side, but it's hampered by missing links, poor maintenance, and the barrier created by the FDR Drive. Today at his State of the Borough address, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer is unveiling the East River Blueway Plan, laying out a vision for the park from the Brooklyn Bridge to 38th Street.

Among the plan's recommendations: replacing a pinch point on the greenway -- the section shoehorned between speeding traffic and the ConEd plant at 15th Street -- with an elevated path rising above the FDR Drive.

A big-ticket item like the new bridge won't be cheap, however, and so far there is no proposal for how to fund it. Stringer has pledged $3.5 million to construct marshland included in the plan, according to the Times.

The Blueway Plan, organized in 2011 by Stringer and Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh in partnership with the Lower East Side Ecology Center and Community Boards 3 and 6, is supported by a state grant dedicated to waterfront revitalization. A draft version from summer 2012 [PDF] identified neighborhood access and waterfront continuity as two of the project's five goals, and listed places where park access across FDR Drive could be improved.

To the north, a 2011 deal with the United Nations has cleared the way for a greenway connection between 38th and 60th Streets, which would bridge the longest gap on the East Side.

Stringer's final State of the Borough speech, where the plan will be unveiled, is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. tonight at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The bridge would deck over the FDR Drive at a key point where today the greenway narrows to five feet. Image: WXY Architects

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Council Outrage Over NYPD Bike Criminalization Grows, But Speaker Adams Is In No Rush

Council members want Speaker Adrienne Adams to act, but she doesn't want to.

May 29, 2025

Op-Ed: NYS Needs the Economic and Environmental Stimulus of E-Bike Subsidies

A "Ride Clean Rebate" is what real climate and economic leadership looks like, argues this industry leader.

May 29, 2025

Thursday’s Headlines: The Loudest Voices Edition

Learn how to counteract the nattering nabobs of negativism. Plus other news.

May 29, 2025

Speed Governor: Leadfoot Cuomo Appears to Run Red Light After Midtown Confab

Cuomo, who already has two speeding tickets on his record, was caught on camera driving through a red light on Wednesday.

May 28, 2025

Defending Bike Crackdown, Adams Says Drivers Have Been Targeted ‘Far Too Long’

This guy once claimed he be a Vision Zero hero, but he's just the zero part.

May 28, 2025

Billionaire Mets Owner Gets His Casino Land — Will Flushing Get Its ‘Skypark’?

The state Senate is OK with the Citi Field parking lot becoming a casino, but Mets owner Steve Cohen is now on the hook to build a park to replace it.

May 28, 2025
See all posts