Greenways create essential public space for human-powered transportation and healthful outdoor recreation; provide numerous environmental benefits; offer sustainable low-cost transportation alternatives; foster tourism and create jobs; and provide connection to job centers and transit.

New York City has a 400-mile network of greenways on paper. About 300 miles of greenways run through every part of the city. But today, they rarely connect to each other, older segments require upgrades, and new parts of the network are still too few and far between. Connecting disparate, isolated greenways will create a citywide open space and transportation network that will be essential infrastructure for an equitable and sustainable future.

In this moment of increased attention to the vital importance of equitable infrastructure, climate action, and economic recovery, dozens of greenway-aligned groups from across the city came together as the NYC Greenways Coalition to catalyze increased investment and political will toward completion of a 5-Borough greenway system that serves all New Yorkers and connects with regional networks like the 750-mile Empire State Trail, 175-mile Long Island Greenway, and 3,000-mile East Coast Greenway.