$120M project to fill East River greenway gap near United Nations moving ahead

New York City officials are finally moving ahead with a decade-old plan to fill a gap on the East River greenway near the United Nations as the latest step in a larger project to create a 32-mile cycling and pedestrian path along Manhattan’s waterfront.

The city Economic Development Corporation on Thursday put out a call for contractors to oversee the construction of the esplanade, which will be built on pillars atop the waterway between East 41st and East 53rd streets. The addition will span less than a mile, and preliminary contract documents estimate it will open by the end of 2028 at a cost of $120 million.

Plans to build an esplanade near the UN date back to former Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration.

“It's really good news,” said Jon Orcutt, advocacy director for Bike New York and a former policy director for the city Department of Transportation under Bloomberg. “There's a lot coming now. It’s the fruition of many, many years of pushing and planning.”

Last year, the city opened another section of the esplanade, between East 53rd and East 61st streets — but the path currently becomes a dead-end before the UN, forcing cyclists to reroute along traffic-clogged First and Second avenues. And while the Hudson River Greenway has seen significant investment in recent years , some areas of the greenway along Manhattan’s East Side are disjointed and crumbling.

“I love riding my bike around the city, and one thing I've always loved doing is riding around Manhattan as far as I can go,” avid cyclist Paul Krikler said. "So, typically, it's going down the West Side greenway, which is fantastic, and coming back up on the East Side. And unfortunately, we can't do that.”

The EDC is also extending the greenway along a stretch of the Harlem River, and is working with the parks department to reconstruct a decrepit area of the path between East 94th and East 124th streets.

“These remarkable capital projects will not only improve quality of life for New Yorkers but expand opportunities to commute by bike or foot while enjoying spectacular views on the East River,” EDC spokesperson Adrien Lesser said in a statement.

Other improvements for cyclists in the area will arrive much sooner than 2028. City transportation officials said they plan to install a protected bicycle lane along the First Avenue tunnel between East 40th and 49th Streets before the start of the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 10.