Update - December 2010

 

The City Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) continues to make progress in obtaining approvals and funding needed to create a recreational trail along the Old Putnam Rail Line.

 

In 2010, the DPR has been seeking approval from the City to map 2.5 miles of the Putnam Line, from the Westchester border to West 230th Street, as parkland, for the development of a bicycle and pedestrian greenway.  DPR must follow ULURP (Uniform Land Use Review Procedure) to gain approval.  To learn more about ULURP, see the Department of City Planning website.

 

Progress of the ULURP as of December 9, 2010:

 

• On October 12, 2010, the full Board of Bronx Community Board 8 voted to approve the ULURP, with 2 dissenting votes. 

 

•  In late October 2010, the Bronx Borough President approved the ULURP application. 

 

• On December 1, 2010 the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on the application. 

 

Concurrent with this mapping process, the DPR has been designing the greenway.    According to a DPR fact sheet, the proposed design will provide an 8-foot wide bikeway and a 4-foot wide pedestrian pathway, flanked by plantings on both sides.  The section south of Van Cortlandt Park will be accessible via ramps at West 230th Street, West 234th Street, and West 238th Street.

 

Once the design is completed, construction is expected to begin on the portion of the greenway through Van Cortlandt Park.  This part of the construction has been fully funded.

 

The 0.7-mile section between Van Cortlandt Park and West 230th Street is owned by CSX.  The DPR will be able to begin negotiations with CSX to purchase this section once the mapping has been approved. Partial funding for the acquisition has been budgeted from funds allotted from the building of the Croton Filtration Plant and from an Environmental Protection Fund grant award by the State in 2008.

 

The section of the old rail below West 230th Street will be addressed at a future date.

 

Background

 

An unused portion of the Putnam Division of the New York Central Railroad runs through Van Cortlandt Park and southward along the west side of the Major Deegan Expressway. Referred to as the Putnam Line, this abandoned corridor provides an excellent opportunity for development as a recreational hiker-biker trail.

This trail would provide needed recreational facilities to Bronx neighborhoods that are presently underserved. It would intersect with local roads, providing access to communities and to on-road bike routes. It will also be a major segment of a much longer continuous trail stretching from Dutchess County to Manhattan, and it will connect with other trails and new recreational facilities in the Bronx.

 

Chronology

Property ownership - In 2008, the NYC Dept. of Parks and Recreation (DPR) determined that the segment of the Putnam Line within Van Cortlandt Park is owned by New York City. 

Broadway development - In 2004, the New York City Economic Development Corporation requested proposals for development of a large parcel north of West 230th Street between Broadway and the Putnam Line.  One of the proposals included acquisition of a portion of the Putnam Line. Development of this portion would cut off a large segment of the rail corridor from public access and destroy the possibility of creating a continuous recreational trail through the corridor.

On February 22, 2005, Bronx Community Board 8 held a public informational meeting on the proposals.  The Preservancy wrote to the Community Board opposing development and stating our belief that any development along the Putnam Line should consider and facilitate future development of a recreational trail along the corridor.

 

Early community support - In its October 1998 Report, the Bronx Advisory Committee to the Hudson River Valley Greenway considered a trail along the portion of the Putnam Line from the Westchester border to just south of West 225th Street. The report supported “a multi-use path along the Putnam Rail…” and recommended “that NYC Department of Parks and Recreation initiate a full study in cooperation with NYC Department of Environmental Protection” (DEP). The DEP was considering restoring Tibbetts Brook, which now runs out of Van Cortlandt Lake into the Broadway sewer, back to a surface stream, as part of its effort to reduce combined sewer overflows.