Why Can’t the Parks Department Keep Its Greenway Sections Clear of Snow and Ice?

The section of the Hudson River Greenway maintained by the Parks Department is still a rutted, icy mess today, after a snowfall early yesterday morning.

The above photo, of the greenway at 82nd Street, looking south, was taken around noon yesterday. A reader sent it to us a little before noon today, when conditions were still treacherous.

“This is ice now,” our reader wrote.

South of 60th Street, the greenway is maintained by the Hudson River Park Trust. Things were hairy on that section yesterday, but according to our tipster, by this morning the Trust had cleared and salted its section of the greenway.

The segment between 70th and 100th streets, which is controlled by the Parks Department, still had “many long stretches of rutted ice” as of today, according to our source.

The Parks Department is known for treating the city’s busiest bike route as a recreational facility rather than a transportation corridor, and it shows in the winter.

Unlike the greenway in Midtown and points south, the Parks Department section has no concrete barriers to keep cars out. That should make it easier to clear snow, but for some reason Parks performed worse.

We asked the Parks Department what its protocol is for keeping the greenway safe and usable during winter. In response, the department said snow from last weekend was removed by Monday, that melted snow on the path ices up overnight, and that the department was out spreading salt when today’s snow began.

So the Parks Department does more than nothing. But it’s clearly not doing enough to keep the path clear, and it’s now getting shown up by the other agency that maintains the greenway.