Esplanade Slowly Reopening, Now Reaches to East 73rd Street
The City Council Speaker, as well as the Parks Department, are hailing the gradual reopening of a long-shuttered stretch of the popular East River walkway.
| 09 Jul 2026 | 01:57
City Council Speaker Julie Menin (pictured center, blue) and NYC Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura (pictured far-left) are hailing the partial reopening of the East River Esplanade, which will now allow access up to East 73rd Street. (
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The Esplanade now terminates at E. 73rd Street, after a stretch between E. 71st Street and E. 78th Street closed due to construction for years. The remaining five blocks are expected to reopen this fall. (
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A long-closed stretch of the East River Esplanade between E. 71st Street and E. 78th Street has continued its gradual reopening, as local residents can now walk to around E. 73rd Street before having to turn around.
The phased reopening finally began gathering steam last month, when the walkway finally extended to around E. 72nd Street—before terminating at the same green construction wall that had greeted pedestrians at an E. 71st Street off-ramp for years.
The now-unveiled stretch between E. 72nd St. and E. 73rd Street is far lengthier, however, giving local advocates hope that real progress is afoot. The Hospital for Special Surgery first took steps to down the seven-block stretch of the Esplanade in spring of 2022, due to the $200 million construction of an expansion wing known as the Kellen Tower; it finally opened earlier this spring.
NYC Parks Department Commissioner Tricia Shimimura, who examined the fresh stretch of paving and flower plantings in person on July 7, told Our Town she expects the remainder of the closure to be resolved by October.
Shimamura lives in the area, noting that she essentially kicked off her career by once serving as Co-Chair of the Parks Subcommittee on Community Board 8. She said that the Parks Department was “all about a contiguous waterfront that is open and accessible to the public.”
“You can see how many people are using this, just in the ten minutes we’ve been here,” she added. She pointed out that she had just had a spirited conversation with one of her neighbors, who had since set off down the reopened portion of the walkway, their kid and stroller in tow.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who represents the Upper East Side, was also present. She told Our Town that the latest bit of progress represented a “big win for the community,” and that her office was prioritizing “complete access” for the people that rely on the Esplanade to get around New York City.
“It’s been years,” Menin said. “We’re happy to finally bring this moment to fruition.”
Jennifer Ratner, the board chair of the nonprofit group Friends of the East River Esplanade, was similarly pleased. The continued reopening was a “more-than-welcome surprise” and a “bonus” of sorts, she said.
Ratner has been responding to sustained community outrage over the closure for too many seasons to count, with bikers particularly irked by a forced detour off the walkway onto First Avenue.
A petition on the subject, circulated by Friends of the East River Esplanade, has apparently gathered hundreds of signatures—and reportedly continues to do so. Menin and Shimamura were two of the people named in this plea to reopen the seven-block stretch of waterfront, as well as repair “neglected infrastructure.”
While the progress at E. 71st Street has been accompanied by a new and sturdy walkway, which had been a long-standing ask for Friends of the East River Esplanade and includes numerous lighting fixtures, they still maintain concern about the entrance onto the Esplanade from E. 71st Street proper.
Currently, it consists of an obscure and poorly-lit cutout tucked into extensive scaffolding, and hasn’t changed much at all for a number of years.