By Gus Saltonstall
In September, the popular 1.25-mile Cherry Walk stretch of the Hudson River Greenway between West 100th and 125th streets closed for reconstruction work.
At the time, notices posted by the New York City Parks Department said the portion of path adjacent to the Hudson River would reopen in spring of 2025.
However, the stretch is still closed as of April 15.
In recent weeks, West Side Rag received multiple emails asking when the pedestrian and bike pathway would reopen. Along with the detour that people still need to take to avoid the construction work, the specific stretch, as indicated by its name, is home to multiple cherry trees that are now in the short window of blooming.
The Rag reached out to the Parks Department to get more information on when the Cherry Walk stretch was slated to reopen.
“Cherry Walk is expected to reopen in mid-April once repaving and pavement markings are complete,” a Parks Department spokesperson initially said.
When asked for more details or a more specific timeline, the spokesperson on Monday added, “Park staff have one final inspection late next week before opening.”
This would put the opening of the Cherry Walk stretch sometime during the last week of April, if the inspection goes successfully.
We will update this story, when the stretch does open.
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Would love to understand on a day by day basis why it takes them this long to pave a one land wide, completely flat piece of land.
If it was just a matter of repaving, it could have been done quickly. However, the issue was not simply that the surface was broken, but that the surface was broken by the roots of the cherry-blossom trees that line the path. This means that repaving requires that the surface is removed and then additional work undertaken to re-route the roots. If they’d cut through them then the trees would die, and it would go from being Cherry Walk to just Walk.
Hope this helps.
Instead of rerouting roots, how about adding soil to increase the height of the walk…..bury the enlarged roots, then pave !
You could do that, but unless you install root barriers then in a few years time we’re going to be having the same conversation – the roots get thicker, and take the path of least resistance, so the optimum approach is to bury them deeper so you can keep the surface at the same height (otherwise you will have a path that’s several inches about the level of the surrounding turf, which comes with its own set of problems, particularly when it comes to water run-off and drainage).
Tony J Re-route the roots? How do they do that?
Through the use of root barriers and employing the services of a qualified tree surgeon (which I’m not, but I’ve seen it done).
Excellent nuanced explanation. The truth of anything is usually in the gray areas (not the black and white).
Because it is being done at the speed of government.
Tony had a good and thoughtful explanation. Turns out it’s more complicated unless you want to kill the trees.
Always the cheery comment from Bill.
This project has been an atrocious execution by the Parks Department along with DOT. If it really takes 8 months to repave a bike path that is 25 blocks long–which admittedly seems pretty over the top to me–they should come up with a more creative detour than, hey let’s just dump everyone on to a four lane section of Riverside Drive that also includes buses and cars moving at high speed. Every single time I ride on Riverside, I get drivers trying to squeeze by me with an inch or two to spare. Earlier this year, an Uber driver bumped my rear tire from behind in traffic and nearly knocked me over. And I’m an adult riding a full sized bicycle, can’t imagine how kids would be expected to take this “detour.”
Riverside Park needs so much more budget in order to clean up the long park. The walk next to Riverside Drive needs more debris clean up as well, repointing the cement between the stones in the parapet wall,…as well, for the broken and missing pavers for the walk (promenade).
agreed, riverside is a gem and is being run into the ground by an underfunded Parks Department. Would be nice to see the local electeds raise holy hell about it til something happens – and WSR could do the same sort of accounting for damage, sinkholes, erosion and non-existent tree maintenance that they do for Central Park & horse manure
Ha! Just this Sunday I decided to walk along the river from 83rd street to Sakura Park to see the blooming trees–first this stretch was closed, and then Sakura Park is also closed! It’s just that kind of year
When are they going to repair the docks on the West Harlem Piers Park on W125th Street?
Why does Tony J believe it won’t be merely a (spot) repaving — as it was <5 years ago?
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2020/09/22/public-service-announcement-busiest-bike-path-in-north-america-to-be-severed-for-months?fbclid=IwAR3Hy2fCJvGPmcBO-DVlLXshslvufibdNqkHyydDAr1YLSGd7gnrw2b_uUM
Mar 31, 2025, 1:22 PM
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Thank you for your interest in NYC Parks and Riverside Park Cherry Walk Greenway Reconstruction.
In the winter, you may observe pauses in construction work due to weather conditions prohibiting our ability to place new asphalt. Necessary pauses in construction do not necessarily mean we are behind schedule. We are happy to inform you that the project is anticipated to be completed in the coming weeks.
We apologize for any inconvenience caused and appreciate your patience and feedback as we work to enhance the park experience for all visitors.
Melanie Chan
(I wrote an extended reply — available upon request)