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

This Greenway Bridge is Falling Apart — And Should Have Been Replaced By Now

The Fort Washington pedestrian bridge has looked like this for months. Photo: Liz Marcello

Talk about papering over a problem.

Hours after Twitter users kvetched en masse about the decrepit Hudson River Greenway portion in Fort Washington Park — a bridge that has been ailing for years — the Parks Department finally did something.

Not much, but something.

Greenway users have been posting photos of the sickly span for months, showing the top layer of wood peeling back, with fencing and an orange traffic barrel covering the most precarious spot. The bridge is visibly crumbling into the Amtrak tracks underneath it, but it wasn't supposed to be that way. A rehabilitation has been in the works for nearly a decade.

https://twitter.com/armenoush_nyc/status/1032082338627371009

Brandishing the photographic evidence, Streetsblog asked the Parks Department on Thursday morning why the $3- to 5-million capital project, first announced in September, 2009, was not done yet, especially given that the design process wrapped up last month, two and a half years late, according to the Parks Department's online capital project database.

We never heard back, but this afternoon the bridge was suddenly patched up:

A
All fixed -- kind of. Photo: Shane Ferro
All fixed -- kind of. Photo: Shane Ferro

One possible explanation for Parks' swift action: The folks complaining on Twitter tagged City Council Parks Committee Chairman Barry Grodenchik, who asked about the location. Next thing we knew, the bridge was in slightly-more-decent working order again.

Problem solved...sort of.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Talking Headways Podcast: Talking with Ryan Russo (Yes, THAT Ryan Russo) About Bike Networks

The head of NACTO (and maybe the head of NYC DOT in waiting?) talks to America's leading transportation podcast.

August 26, 2025

Tuesday’s Headlines: Pay-to-Play Edition

Well-founded delivery app lobbyists are running roughshod at the City Council. Plus more news.

August 26, 2025

Mamdani Pledges to Finish Adams’s Abandoned Bike and Bus Lanes Amid City Hall Bribery Scandal

Mamdani vowed to complete street redesigns that Mayor Adams killed due to political pressure and, in at least one case, alleged bribes.

August 25, 2025

Monday’s Headlines: Summer Streets Post Mortem Edition

One last halcyonic look at Summer Streets. Plus a veritable encyclopedia of news from the weekend.

August 25, 2025

STREETSBLOG ABROAD: We’ll Never Have Paris … Unless We Start Rebuilding Our City Like The French Did

Où es-tu allée, Anne Hidalgo? Notre ville tourne vers vous ses yeux solitaires.

August 25, 2025

INVASION OF THE BODY-SNATCHERS: Self-Driving Taxis Have Come for Your Roads, Jobs

What could possibly go wrong? Perhaps we get safer streets. Perhaps every taxi driver loses his or her job.

August 25, 2025
See all posts