Advocacy group Transportation Alternatives thinks the Hudson River Greenway is “the most heavily used bikeway in the United States.” Yet it is only one of three segments that make up Manhattan Waterfront Greenway – a foreshoreway for walking or cycling, 32 miles (51 km) long, around the island of Manhattan.But with a 30-minute limit on my CitiBike, I had only time to check out a small segment of the system in Lower Manhattan. And I wasn’t alone.
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The Hudson River Greenway runs along the West Side of the island, often with separate paths for cyclists and pedestrians. And where it doesn’t, it suffers from its own success. New Yorkers, I expect, must be used to crowded, competitive situations with each other – but are no doubt universally annoyed by the tourists.
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The system is much more than the trails. Rather, it’s a sequence of small parks and massive piers left over from an earlier era of the working waterfront – and now transformed into the playgrounds and sporting fields of Manhattan.
It’s a beautiful greenway with lots of surprises to the uninitiated. You can do it on a bike in a few hours. For those wanting a slower pace, there’s The Great Saunter – a walk around the periphery hosted by Shorewalkers the first Saturday in May. I did it a number of years ago. It was a damn death march, but worth it.
https://www.shorewalkers.org/the-great-saunter-event