Parks Dept Closes Hudson River Greenway Segment With Little Public Notice

Since November 22, the Hudson River Greenway bike path has been closed between 59th Street and 70th Street. A reader who bikes the greenway daily said there was no advance notice about the detour, which directs cyclists to a pedestrian path that’s crowded with joggers and dog walkers. No signs indicate when the closure will end.

We contacted the Parks Department, which says the segment will reopen in “the next few weeks.” It remains unclear if more closures will follow as Riverside Park South undergoes a $17.5 million makeover set to wrap up next fall.

People using the busiest bike route in the city have been left to guess why they’re getting routed along a cramped alternative path, and how long it will last. Our tipster said there have been no visible signs of construction activity the four times he’s passed by this week.

In an email, Parks Department spokesperson Crystal Howard said the path is currently closed because of “fine grading and paving to the haul road” as part of the fifth phase of the city’s capital reconstruction of the park, which began in 2016. The project also includes the repaving of the bike path, which has yet to commence.

Pressed on when the closure and detour period would end, Howard said “this specific closure” will end “next week.”

After we sent a third query about whether and when greenway users can expect the path to be closed again during the next year of construction, the department said that “so not to open and close” the segment will “stay closed, with the detour, for the next few weeks until completed.”