Staten Island · Richmond County
Freshkills Park
Flagship Park (in development)
- Location
- Travis Avenue, Victory Boulevard & Arthur Kill Road, multiple neighborhoods
- Size
- 2200.00 acres
- Hours
- Limited public access; sections opening in phases
- Type
- Flagship Park (in development)
Freshkills Park is a 2,200-acre park under development on the site of the former Fresh Kills Landfill in western Staten Island, which when completed will be the largest park developed in New York City in over a century and nearly three times the size of Central Park. The transformation of the world's largest landfill into a public park is one of the most ambitious environmental reclamation projects in history.
The Fresh Kills Landfill operated from 1948 to 2001, receiving the residential garbage of New York City for over five decades. At its peak, the landfill received 29,000 tons of waste per day and its mounds of garbage rose to heights exceeding the Statue of Liberty. The landfill was briefly reopened after September 11, 2001, to receive debris from the World Trade Center site.
The park's master plan, designed by James Corner Field Operations (the firm behind Manhattan's High Line), envisions a landscape of restored wetlands, grasslands, waterways, and recreation areas that will support both intensive public use and ecological restoration. The plan includes athletic facilities, kayak launches, mountain bike trails, an equestrian center, and environmental education facilities.
The landfill's methane gas is captured and converted to energy, and an elaborate system of caps, liners, and leachate treatment prevents contamination of surrounding soil and waterways. The engineering required to transform the landfill into safe public space is as complex as any infrastructure project in the city's history.
Sections of Freshkills Park have been opened to the public for scheduled events, guided tours, and seasonal programming, with additional sections planned for opening as the phased development continues over the coming decades. The park's rolling, treeless landscape already supports populations of grassland birds, hawks, and other wildlife.
Freshkills Park represents the most dramatic transformation of any site in New York City's history: from a mountain of garbage to a vast public landscape that will serve New Yorkers for centuries. The project demonstrates that even the most degraded sites can be reclaimed, and that the city's environmental mistakes can become the foundation for its environmental future.