The East Midtown Greenway is an in-water structure that will provide public access to the waterfront along seven blocks of the East Side of Manhattan where the FDR highway occupies the waterfront. The EMG gives safe passage over the highway and a nearly half mile pedestrian esplanade and bikeway that links to the larger path system encircling nearly the entire Manhattan waterfront. A collaboration between structural engineers, architects, and landscape architects, the structure was designed to minimize visual obstruction while providing sufficient capacity to support trees and landscape while rising above 2100 SLR projections. The topside landscape design utilizes structural interstitial spaces to expand available soil volumes and naturally anchor large trees against wind forces. Stormwater is captured and flows within the structure to irrigate plantings, which are selected to withstand the harsh conditions of the location, including aerosol salts, winds, and periodic drought. As the lead designer of the EMG, the design team coordinated extensively with multiple City agencies (NYCEDC, NYCDPR, NYCDOT, NYPD, FDNY, NYCOEM) to complete construction of this $100M project. East Midtown Greenway (EMG) extends from 53rd to 61st Streets on the East Side of Manhattan. Formerly known as the Outboard Detour Roadway, it is the second of three sections of the East Midtown Waterfront Project to be advanced by New York City. It significantly contributes to closing the ring of pedestrian esplanade and bikeway that is anticipated to eventually fully circle Manhattan. One of the biggest challenges for this project was to support a robust planting design, including large shade trees, both in terms of structural loading and adequate soil volume. The structural engineers and landscape architecture team worked together to adjust the structural profile, taking advantage of structural interstitial spaces to achieve 1000 cubic feet of soil for each tree, incorporating a passive irrigation system that collects stormwater and sends it through the soil volume.
