Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Manhattan Waterfront and the North East River Crossings


I took a ride up the East River this weekend. I tried to see as much of the waterfront from the Queensborough Bridge to the top of the Island. Unlike the westside of Manhattan, there is no continuous route along the water. There are long stretches of pedestrian bikepaths, but they are interrupted by frustrating ins-and-out back into the streets.

According to the New York City Department of City Planning, there is a 32 mile continuous path that you can follow that circumnavigates all of Manhattan. This is not true...this is like saying there is a direct flight from here to China, but you have to change planes 3 times. What there is, is called the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway. They have changed what they called "ignored and derelict" waterfront into open public space for recreation and commuting. Whatever you want to call it, I tried to see it all.

A lot of the early ride is right up against heavy FDR traffic with nice views of Roosevelt Island and the Queens waterfront that I explored last week. The Mayor's Gracie Mansion is at a turn in the Island near 90th street. There is a nice overlook out to the Lighthouse and Mill Rock island before heading north toward Wards Island.

The path stays on the water all the way to the Triborough Bridge. For a Sunday bike ride in New York, there were surprisingly few people on this path, probably because it isn't as accessible as the city thinks it is. There were scattered groups of people fishing along the way. Under the Bridge the path turned to dirt and as I went along I passed large piles of gravel, docked barges of sand and suddenly I realized that i wasn't really allowed to be there. Oh well. I went as far as I could until I was forced by fencing to try and find other waterway access points.
From 125th street to 155th street there is no bike path and getting to the water is a maze of highway access roads, dead ends and bad turns. This is where Manhattan narrows and along the way there are 5 small but very cool bridges to the Bronx.
  • Willis Ave.
  • 3rd Ave.
  • Madison Ave.
  • 145th st.
  • Macomb's Dam


I walked my bike over each of these bridges, some of them were draw bridges but didn't lift while I was there. On the Manhattan side of Macombs Dam Bridge is a small turnoff with a great view of Yankee Stadium and a patch of flowers with at least 100 butterflies. I'm not sure if I've ever seen butterflies in NY.


After 155th street there is a very confusing re-entry to the Greenway on the water. This section which takes you from 155th all the way up to Dykamn ave. is the most secluded park of Manhattan I have ever been on. The narrow part of the river is enclosed by cliffs on both sides. The bridges here, like Washington Bridge pictured above, are not accessible by the path but are very classic and the highest of any north of the Queensborough. There is also the Hamilton Bridge and Highbridge.


There are 2 very cool little things on the water here. A small boathouse that houses kayaks and canoes and a little waterway garden path that used to be an illegal dumping spot. That's where sherman creek is and where the path turns into the island at Dykman.


There are 4 more river crossings before you get to the Hudson. 2 of them are much like the others, the other 2 are in Inwood park and I will try and see that sometime next weekend.


oh yeah...there is one other crossing along the east river. There is a giant foot bridge that connects Manhattan to Ward's island. Its very high and lifts in the middle for boats to pass. I want to walk across, maybe some other time.

pictures

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