The Bronx · Bronx County
River Park
NYC Parks
- Location
- Along the Bronx River between East Tremont Avenue and the Cross Bronx Expressway
- Size
- 5 acres
- Hours
- 6 AM - 1 AM daily
- Type
- NYC Parks
River Park is a waterfront park along the Bronx River, the only freshwater river in New York City. The park provides access to the river's restored banks and the growing Bronx River Greenway.
The Bronx River was severely polluted and neglected for most of the 20th century, but a major restoration effort beginning in the 1990s has transformed it into a living waterway. Alewife herring returned to the river in 2006 for the first time in over a century.
The Bronx River Greenway, a planned continuous path along the river from the East River to Westchester County, connects River Park to the larger system of parks and natural areas along the waterway.
The restoration of the Bronx River is one of the most significant urban environmental success stories in the United States, demonstrating that even severely degraded urban waterways can be brought back to ecological health.
River Park serves the Bronx communities along the river with waterfront access and recreation on a waterway that has been transformed from a polluted industrial channel into a thriving ecological corridor.