Group wants Greenway back on track

People are barred from access to the riverfront by fences, signs and train tracks. Photo by Karsten Moran

By Aliza Appelbaum

The fight to create a strip of parkland stretching from upper Manhattan and through the Bronx to Yonkers has begun a new chapter.

It’s been more than a decade since the last serious effort to create a Hudson River Valley Greenway, which would give Riverdalians access to the entire length of their waterfront property, now mainly occupied by trains and tracks. Supporters of the project are working with the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council — which is a conglomeration of city, state and environmental agencies — to discuss possible routes for the Greenway, all of which would cut through Riverdale.

NYMTC is “committed” to planning a design for a riverfront route, though the exact route has not been selected yet, and there is currently no clear preference, said Howie Mann, of NYMTC’s project’s manager.

NYMTC’s part in the Greenway project aims to create a plan for a route that would then become the basis of negotiations with city, state and rail agencies. To bring the Greenway effort back into public consciousness and build support for the project, the Riverdale Nature Preservancy and Friends of the Hudson River Greenway in the Bronx co-sponsored a meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at Wave Hill, where the possible routes were unveiled.

“This project has faced a lot of challenges,” Mr Mann said. He noted issues with funding, boundaries and the environment in his presentation at the meeting. “This is the point in the project where we begin to document and design solutions to these challenges.”

One such issue is that a riverside route would likely conflict with the railroad tracks that currently occupy that prime riverfront land along part of the route. NYMTC hopes to work with the railroad companies and the MTA to make room for the path alongside the tracks, and in some places where the tracks are no longer being used, replace them completely, Mr. Mann said. While those conversations have begun, he said, NYMTC can’t force agreement.

Another potential obstacle for the Greenway is crossing the Harlem River. The three routes up for discussion would each use a different bridge, either the railroad bridge at Spuyten Duyvil, the Henry Hudson Bridge or the Broadway Bridge, Mr. Mann said. The Spuyten Duyvil Bridge, which would be the most direct route, poses a particular problem, he noted, because it’s a swing bridge that remains open for long stretches of time to let boats through.

The planning project will be completed in September 2010 “at the outside,” said Mr. Mann. After the completion of the planning project, the proposal will have to be approved by NYMTC’s board of governors before “it is handed off to an implementing agency or agencies,” he added.

The Greenway project, create by the state in 1991, has the ultimate goal of linking paths along the Hudson River from the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan to Waterford, Saratoga County, about 10 miles north of Albany. NYMTC received funding last year to create a plan for the Riverdale area.

Elected officials, including City Councilman Oliver Koppell and Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz, showed up at the meeting to demonstrate support for the Greenway project. “The goal was to give people access to the river,” said Mr. Dinowitz, who helped pass legislation in 1995 to include the Bronx in the Greenway. “I hope that now that we’ve made so much progress … we can finally get people that access.”

For frustrated residents who have watched the plan fade away over the last decade before being resurrected last year, this represents a positive step toward getting the paths and access to the Hudson they have wanted for so long.

“The Hudson is our valuable resource,” said Ruth Kraus, a Riverdale resident who has been active in the Greenway project. “We have to bring the people to the water, because as things get more congested and there’s less chances for fresh air in the city we’re going to need this.”

Still, said Ms. Kraus, the presentation skipped over a lot of past issues that have held up the project, including squabbles over county lines and district responsibilities.

“They just skimmed over a lot of jurisdictional issues,” Ms. Kraus said. “But I think in the long run, we’ll be able to work with the city … and get this done.”

This is part of the November 26, 2009 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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