New York City is beginning a new round of public planning for four outer-borough greenways that together would add more than 40 miles of walking and cycling corridors. The Department of Transportation announced the effort on October 26 with the Parks Department and New York City Economic Development Corporation. The four implementation plans cover the Bronx Waterfront, Historic Brooklyn, Staten Island Waterfront and Southern Queens.
The first public process will focus on a proposed 15-mile Bronx Waterfront route running from Randall’s Island Park to SUNY Maritime. City planners say the corridor could create safer links to industrial job centers such as Hunts Point and improve connections among waterfront parks in Soundview and Throggs Neck. An in-person workshop is scheduled for November 4 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the BankNote Building, 1231 Lafayette Avenue, followed by a virtual workshop on December 3.
The Brooklyn plan would examine a 12-mile route between Coney Island and Highland Park. It is intended to fill gaps between the Ocean Parkway and Eastern Parkway corridors while connecting cyclists to Broadway Junction and major green spaces including Prospect Park. The project is a planning commitment rather than a construction schedule; the city must still identify specific alignments, engineering needs and sources of capital funding.
On Staten Island, the proposed 10-mile waterfront route would run between the Goethals and Verrazzano bridges. The city says the east-west connection could link the St. George Ferry Terminal with the Tompkinsville Esplanade, New Stapleton Waterfront and other destinations on the North Shore. In Southern Queens, a seven-mile corridor between Spring Creek Park and Brookville Park would connect with the Jamaica Bay Greenway and could improve non-car access near John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The four corridors are part of six outer-borough greenway plans supported by a federal RAISE grant awarded in 2022. The city expects to finish all six plans by 2028. Workshops for Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens are expected to begin in 2027, after the Bronx engagement gets underway. The planning structure is meant to identify improvements that can happen relatively quickly as well as larger projects requiring design work and future capital appropriations.
Near-term work could include pavement markings, signs and limited concrete changes on city streets. Longer-term work may involve permanent construction, waterfront access or more complicated connections across different agencies’ property. That distinction matters because a completed planning document does not by itself guarantee that every mile will be built on a fixed date. Each route will have to move through technical review, budgeting and community consultation.
The expansion follows the city’s Greater Greenways Plan and earlier implementation work on the Harlem River and Queens waterfront corridors. Greenways can serve recreation, but city agencies also describe them as transportation infrastructure: routes for commuting, short neighborhood trips and connections to parks or transit. Public feedback will therefore shape questions such as street crossings, lighting, accessibility, wayfinding, route continuity and how a corridor fits alongside freight, buses, cars and pedestrian activity.
For residents, the immediate step is participation rather than construction. The Bronx workshops will review existing conditions and collect concerns and ideas before planners settle on recommendations. The city’s greenways page includes registration information and maps. The longer test will be whether the eventual plans produce continuous, safe routes rather than isolated segments, and whether capital funding keeps pace with the public vision developed during the next two years.
Sources: NYC Department of Transportation; NYC Greenways. Reviewed October 27, 2026. Development: October 27, 2026.