East River Greenway - Part II

The East River Greenway - Part II

The East River Greenway is operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. It runs runs along the East Side, from Battery Park and past South Street Seaport to a dead end at 125th Street, East Harlem (a 1.3 miles gap exists from 34th to 60th streets in Midtown where pedestrians use busy First and Second Avenues to get around United Nations Headquarters between the Upper East Side and Kips Bay).

Cyclists going further north who do not wish to carry their bike up the long flight of stairs at 81st Street must skip the 60th Street access and continue in the on-street bike lanes another 1.1 miles to 83rd Street.

All the pictures have been taken by Elena.

The path occupies a narrow portion of the space below the viaduct; in most cases, the rest of the space is used as parking facilities and storage space.

The Charles Brown Sipyard housed a group of shipbuilders at Pier 42, adjacent to Charlotte Street, now Pike Street. They built many vessels, including some of those designed by Robert Fulton.

Franc T. Modica Way.

The Big Balance Dry Dock was situated between Pike and Rutgers Streets. Machinists and blacksmiths were also concentrated in this area of shoreline.

It was cited as “a bridge beautiful as well as useful” by Architects & Builders Magazine.

This elaborate arch was intended to be a grand entrance to the city. Cars passed through the arch while subways ran beneath.

Architects Carrere & Hastings were asked to improve the towers, anchorages and the road. Cable anchorages were exaggerated as saddles, and twin colonnades flanking an arch formed the Court of Honor at the Manhattan approach.

During the 19th century, this area of the East River featured docks and piers of shipping lines, linking New York with other eastern seaboard ports.

The Manhattan bridge you see now was designed by Leon Moisseff and opened in 1909.

The Czech immigrant engineer, Gustav Lindenthal, is often credited with the design of the Manhattan Bridge which dominates the skyline at this point; but in fact Lindenthal’s design was rejected due to its controversial structural innovations.

The total length of the Brooklyn Bridge is 6,855 feet with a span of 1,470 feet, 135 feet clear of the water.

Sportground under the FDR driveway.

Basketball City on the Greenway lane.

Chinese immigrants began arriving in 1870 and, since 1960, many more have come. 150,000 residents make it the largest Chinese community outside Asia.

The upper level of Manhattan bridge carries four lanes of traffic and a pedestrian walkway. The lower level carries three traffic lanes and four subway tracks.