New York City has kicked off the expansion of the Harlem River Greenway in the Bronx. City officials announced Wednesday that more than four lane miles of on-street protected bike lanes will be installed along the corridor in 2025. The project aims to create a seven-mile greenway from Van Cortlandt Park to Randall’s Island Park, better connecting Bronx residents to their waterfront with new open space and bike routes.
Construction follows two years of planning, which concluded in April and will be outlined in an implementation plan report expected in the coming months. During the planning process, the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) engaged with hundreds of community members through three rounds of workshops and more than 30 community events.
On Wednesday, DOT also announced the completion of its first 2025 greenway project along the Depot Place and Exterior Street ramp in Highbridge. The project creates a connection for cyclists and pedestrians across the Major Deegan Expressway and Metro-North tracks, linking them to the waterfront’s Bridge Park and Roberto Clemente State Park.
As part of the upgrades, DOT installed a barrier-protected bike lane and expanded pedestrian space. Depot Place remains the only access point to the waterfront for more than a mile in either direction.
Several additional “near-term” Harlem River Greenway projects are also slated for completion this year, with the potential for future upgrades that will build out painted lanes with more permanent materials through long-term capital improvements.
DOT will implement a major intersection redesign at Van Cortlandt Park South and Bailey Avenue to improve safety and connectivity for cyclists and pedestrians accessing the Bronx park and the existing Putnam Trail.
The project includes realigning an off-ramp, closing a slip lane, and expanding pedestrian and bike space to naturally slow turning vehicles. While a project of this scale once required years to complete, DOT’s expanded concrete resources will allow it to finish the work in-house by the end of this year.
DOT will create new pedestrian islands, redesign intersections, and add a two-way bike path along the west side of Bailey Avenue, from Van Cortlandt Park South to West 225th Street/West Kingsbridge Road. These improvements will better connect cyclists and pedestrians from Kingsbridge and Kingsbridge Heights to Van Cortlandt Park, while enhancing safety on this truck route, which has seen 18 serious injuries and two deaths between 2020 and 2024.
The agency will install a barrier-protected, two-way bike lane along the southern portion of Exterior Street, stretching from the 145th Street Bridge to the Madison Avenue Bridge. The project will place a bike lane on the closest continuous street to the river, and enhance access to the Madison Avenue Bridge into Manhattan.
The bike lane will connect to the new Lower Concourse Park, a 2.3-acre public space along the Harlem River between 144th and 146th streets, bringing vital infrastructure upgrades, green space, and waterfront access to the South Bronx. NYC Parks and the city’s Economic Development Corporation expect to unveil the park later this year.
DOT will install new pedestrian islands, redesign intersections, and add a two-way bike path on Bruckner Boulevard from Lincoln Avenue to Cypress Place, closing a greenway gap and enhancing safety for children at two schools along the corridor.
Finally, the agency will create a short, two-way bike path on Willow Avenue between East 133rd Street and East 132nd Street to connect cyclists from Bruckner Boulevard to Randall’s Island.
“These projects better connect Bronx residents to their waterfront and beautiful parks while also bringing dramatic safety upgrades and establishing new commuting routes for cyclists,” DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said. “Each project reflects feedback we’ve received from residents at our workshops and we’re excited to get to work to start quickly building out the greenway, with more upgrades to come.”
Data shows that protected bike lanes improve safety for all road users—whether biking, walking, or driving. According to a press release, pedestrian deaths and serious injuries drop by 29.2 percent where protected lanes are installed, with even greater benefits for seniors, whose fatalities and serious injuries decline by 39 percent.
Announced by Mayor Eric Adams in March 2023, the Harlem River Greenway expansion seeks to reconnect Bronxites with their waterfront, an area that has remained largely inaccessible since the construction of the Major Deegan Expressway in the 1930s.
The expansion is funded in part by a $7.25 million federal grant the city received in August 2022 to improve the greenway network’s reach in underserved communities of color. Other potential greenway expansions include Brooklyn’s Eastern Parkway into Brownsville, the Jamaica Bay Greenway, and the North Shore on Staten Island.
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