Brooklyn's Ocean Parkway Greenway, the oldest bike path in the country, needs a facelift, cyclists say
NEW YORK — The oldest bike path in the country, located in Brooklyn, is in need of upgrades, cyclists say.
Despite work on a six-block stretch of the Ocean Parkway Greenway in Gravesend, some bikers say there's more to do. The tree-lined five-mile route was completed in 1894, making it the oldest bike path in the country. It runs through several neighborhoods connecting Coney Island to Prospect Park.
"Surface conditions are still continuing to deteriorate"
The bike path is currently undergoing a much-awaited reconstruction between Avenue R and Avenue X, a project former Brooklyn Councilmember Mark Treyger was pushing for years before his tenure ended. Four million dollars were assigned to fund the project in 2019, but construction began four years later, in March of 2023.
According to the NYC Parks Department tracker, the work is expected to be completed later this month, behind schedule after a pandemic-related delay.
"Outside of the scope of this project, the surface conditions are still continuing to deteriorate. So you have a lot of sections where there are tree roots that are starting to poke up out of the asphalt. You have sections where the asphalt itself is just worn down to rubble and really functionally doesn't exist anymore," said Brian Hedden, advocacy and projects coordinator at the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative.
Hedden says the community already suffers from a lack of protected bike lanes compared to other parts of the city.
"This is really the only way to get north and south within southern Brooklyn in a low-stress manner," he told CBS News New York's Hannah Kliger.
Hunter Armstrong, executive director at Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, says hope may be on the horizon.
"Coming up in 2025, the City of New York has received a planning grant from the federal government to start re-envisioning Ocean Parkway to improve it as a greenway," he said.
"There's definitely a lack of attention"
Tree roots and cracks in the pavement are a daily obstacle for Andy Chino Perez, who bikes every day to his job at NYC Health + Hospitals South Brooklyn Health.
"I've had multiple accidents where, you know, the concrete wouldn't be paved well enough to the point where I would flip over on my bike," he said.
Seref Holle is a psychiatry doctor at the same hospital and bikes to work, too. He says the degraded conditions along parts of his route make him think about other Brooklyn communities with expansive cycling infrastructure.
"I think there's definitely a lack of attention to this area of the borough. I mean, this used to be the Gold Coast of Brooklyn, it was a big holiday and vacation spot. There was a lot of infrastructure that's kind of crumbled away over the years," he said.
Regarding ongoing repairs and the need for more work along the path, a spokesperson from the Parks Department replied with the following statement:
"Our citywide network of greenways and bike paths connects New Yorkers to our parks, our natural environment, and to one another. Keeping these routes accessible and well-maintained is a top priority for us and our partners throughout city government, and we are focused on working with our sister agencies to maintain and strengthen our greenway network, including the historic Ocean Parkway bike path."
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