Long Island Greenway forges a new trail from Manhattan to Montauk
A nearly 200-mile trail from Manhattan to Montauk is being developed to give Long Islanders a new way to walk, bike and connect with parks, downtowns, transit and other destinations.
The Long Island Greenway, led by the Trust for Public Land, is envisioned as an extension of New York’s 750-mile Empire State Trail, which currently ends in Manhattan. The proposed Greenway would cross Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties, creating a backbone for future trail connections.
“The East End contains some of the most treasured landscapes on Long Island, arguably in all of New York,” Tamar Renaud, associate vice president and New York state director of TPL, says. “There are very few places where you can move from cranberry bogs and pine barrens through farm country and historic communities, past bays and coastal landscapes, and ultimately reach the dunes and Atlantic Ocean at Montauk.”
The project began in 2018, when TPL mapped a potential east-west route across Long Island. The feasibility work focused in part on electric transmission rights-of-way that could accommodate off-road paths. TPL worked with Nassau and Suffolk counties, elected officials, business leaders and biking and hiking groups to identify a feasible route.
The Greenway is being advanced in five sections, each at a different stage of development.
