Part of a larger East River Waterfront esplanade, the in-water structure fills in a gap in Manhattan’s Waterfront Greenway, a planned continuous 32.5-mile loop around the island. Spanning approximately seven city blocks, the project complements a popular existing public park and creates a safe and attractive passage for pedestrians and cyclists. A strategically located 115-ft-long pedestrian bridge spanning FDR Drive links the new park with the surrounding neighborhood, with walls that lean elegantly outward to create a feeling of openness. Furnishings are brought to life by sloped planter walls moving in and out to create concavities that provide shade and orient seats to the river corridor.

Photo courtesy Skanska

Extensive multidisciplinary collaboration yielded a design that provides visual slimness while still providing sufficient structural capacity to support trees, plantings and the esplanade itself. The structure was elevated 3 ft above the current water elevations so the bikeway and walkway will remain above adjusted elevations for sea level rise predicted for year 2100.

One design challenge was providing sufficient soil to support trees while maintaining a minimal structural depth to preserve views. The topside landscape design used interstitial spaces within structural tub girders and lightweight modular suspended pavement units to maximize available soil volumes and naturally anchor large trees against wind forces. The pavements are sloped to trench drains along the structure’s edge to prevent surface ponding and to capture stormwater to naturally irrigate the plantings.

Photo courtesy Skanska

During construction, the project team was challenged by pandemic-related scheduling difficulties and the need for both landside and waterborne construction activities. Concrete was pumped distances of up to 2,000 ft from FDR Drive during nighttime lane closures. GPS tracking monitored construction barge locations and status in real time through predetermined geozones.

Photo courtesy Skanska

Strategically positioned advanced time-lapse cameras and underwater drones equipped with cameras and sensors contributed to ongoing project safety and management by documenting progress, monitoring the work environment and inspecting submerged structures for any defects and erosion.

Many construction milestones during the four-year project were met ahead of the planned timeline, allowing the entire effort to wrap up two weeks ahead of schedule. Despite numerous changes to design and scope during the construction phase, the project maintained its original $155-million budget.