Cyclists could be forced to take a winding, hilly detour away from the Hudson River Greenway between 73rd Street and 82nd Street, thanks to a proposal from the Parks Department that has the support of Council Member Helen Rosenthal.
As DNAinfo reported, Parks landscape architect Margaret Bracken presented the plan at Monday’s Manhattan Community Board 7 meeting. The proposal emerged from last year’s participatory budgeting process, which allocated $200,000 to reducing conflicts between cyclists and pedestrians on that part of the greenway. Overcrowding is a concern during the summer months, when usage increases dramatically.
CB 7 member Ken Coughlin said the participatory budgeting plan only intended the alternate bike route for “high-traffic summer months” [PDF]. Now, Coughlin and other people who bike on the greenway are concerned the detour will force cyclists into dark, steep paths that could be especially unsafe during the colder parts of the year.
Brachen and representatives from Council Member Helen Rosenthal’s office told attendees at Monday’s meeting that they did not want to have inconsistent rules guiding usage of the path. "My response to that is they’re taking a sometime problem and applying an all-the-time solution that puts cyclists at risk," Coughlin told Streetsblog. "I only agreed to be an advocate for [the plan] on the condition that it would be seasonal. The crowding on the path is only a real problem during the summer and during the day."
A Parks Department spokesperson argued that the new bike route “will not be a detour” because it will run parallel to the greenway. “The safety of all parkgoers is a top priority for NYC Parks,” Parks Manhattan Borough Commissioner William Castro said in an email statement to Streetsblog. “Working with cycling advocates, we are happy to move forward with adding additional pathway to The Hudson River Greenway so to better accommodate cycling traffic on this popular Manhattan destination.”
After this round of feedback, Parks plans to come back with an updated proposal in the near future.
Rosenthal provided the following statement:
"The Hudson River Greenway in Riverside Park is dangerously crowded and unsafe for pedestrians and cyclists. Residents complain about the path to my office regularly, and the funding for safety improvements to the path was one of our most popular projects during Participatory Budgeting last year. I support the project, but I'm open to suggestions on how we can make the detour as safe as possible for cyclists, which could include using brighter lights in those lampposts or fluorescent paint on the new bike path. I look forward to seeing the amended plan at the next scoping meeting for the Parks Department capital projects in the district, which is open to the public."
