The Parks Department has delayed its repair of the crumbling upper section of the Hudson River Greenway while the agency responds to concerns from cyclists by considering creating a safe detour rather than forcing riders onto dangerous Broadway.
"The project is on hold while we explore options," Parks Department spokeswoman Megan Moriarty told Streetsblog, which had revealed the unsafe route change earlier this month.
Parks was set to start a four-month closure of the greenway last Monday, in order to begin the repair of the collapsing retaining wall and pothole-scarred path on a mile-long stretch of the greenway between West 181st and Dyckman streets. The department had planned to direct greenway users to ride on Broadway — a dangerous, congested road that is upper Manhattan's main truck and freight route.
The recommendation, however, raised a hue and cry among those who rely on the greenway — the nation's busiest cycling path, the only safe north-south corridor for bike commuters traveling to or from Manhattan and the west Bronx, and the southernmost leg of the 750-mile Empire State Trail — especially because they had appealed for safer routes before the closure. Last year, Community Board 12 asked the city to consider converting an underused lane on the northbound Henry Hudson Parkway as a temporary protected bike lane during the repair. (The existing bike path runs alongside the westernmost lane of the northbound lanes of the highway.)
Last week, former city Traffic Commissioner Sam Schwartz endorsed that plan as a "far superior and much safer" route than the city's plan. Then, Council Member Carmen De La Rosa stepped in, and the Park's Department was forced to reconsider its plans.
Moriarty added that Parks had "reached out to" the state Department of Transportation, which controls the Henry Hudson Parkway.
SDOT confirmed that it "plans to discuss a number of path-related issues" with Parks and the city DOT soon.
A crumbling wall on the Hudson River Greenway. Photo: Inwood Owners AssociationA crumbling wall on the Hudson River Greenway. Photo: Inwood Owners Association
De La Rosa had met last week with local advocates and emerged saying that she was miffed by a "lack of communication" from the Parks Department. De La Rosa said the next step is to gather "the stakeholders," including Parks and the city and state departments of Transportation, to find alternative routes.
The original detour — routing cyclists and walkers onto Broadway via Dyckman or 181st — was "pretty crazy," she said, not only because of local traffic, but also because of all the motorists who exit the parkway there. "Hopefully we can come to a good solution and minimize the disruption," she told Streetsblog.
From May 2020 through April 2022, there were 255 reported crashes on the surface streets selected for the detour, injuring 20 cyclists and 18 pedestrians, according to city data, with more collisions during the summer, the greenway's peak-use period.
Carmen De La RosaCarmen De La Rosa
According to participants at the meeting, alternatives discussed included the Henry Hudson Parkway proposal and another routing cyclists through nearby Fort Tryon Park. The former idea appealed to them more: As detailed in the proposal that swayed CB12, a temporary protected bike lane could be set up inexpensively using jersey barriers. The latter idea, meanwhile, presents its own problems: Fort Tryon's paths are quite steep and are used extensively by pedestrians and climbers, which would create conflicts with bicycles. De La Rosa said that Henry Hudson temporary lane might be preferable because it "went through the community board process" and had CB12's recommendation.
Inwood cyclist Allegra Legrande called De La Rosa's effort "very encouraging."
"I am hopeful that she can do for our parkland greenways" what CM Carlina Rivera of the Lower East Side "did for surface street bike routes: Construction permits on parkland greenway paths should be predicated on an equally safe detour route — and real-time status updates should be centralized on a map viewer" on the city's web site, Legrande added.
Legrande also doesn't see a detour through Ft. Tryon Park as viable — "unless we all enroll in Tour de France training."
The city DOT did not return repeated requests for comment. The city DOT commissioner, Ydanis Rodriguez, represented Inwood and Washington Heights in the City Council until this year.
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