A bike path through Battery Park connecting the East River Waterfront to the Hudson River Greenway could be completed as soon as September 2011.
The Battery Conservancy is in the final stages of designing the long-awaited bike path and hopes to begin construction next fall, said Warrie Price, the conservancy’s president. Community Board 1 gave advisory approval to the designs last month, and the city’s Public Design Commission will review them in two weeks.
Flanked by gardens, the bikeway will run along the northern edge of Battery Park. The first section, through Peter Minuit Plaza by the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, will open in June, Price said.
The $18 million project also includes the Battery Green, an open oval three times the size of the lawn at Bryant Park. Price said the green would be one of the only large public assembly spaces in Lower Manhattan.
“It should be a meeting place for all of Downtown to come together,” she said, envisioning concerts and other events.
The project will also create a separate green space that could be used as a sculpture garden, Price said.
— Julie Shapiro
