Riverbank State Park
| Riverbank State Park | |
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The waste treatment plant and park as seen from across the river
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 Location of Riverbank State Park in New York City
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| Type | State park |
| Location | Manhattan, New York City, NY |
| Coordinates | 40°49′30″N 73°57′25″W / 40.825°N 73.957°WCoordinates: 40°49′30″N 73°57′25″W / 40.825°N 73.957°W |
| Area | 28 acres (11 ha) |
| Created | 1993 |
| Operated by | New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation |
| Visitors | 3,187,269 (in 2014) |
| Status | Open all year |
Riverbank State Park is a 28-acre (11 ha) state park built on the top of a sewage treatment facility on the Hudson River, in the New York City borough of Manhattan.
Riverbank State Park was designed by Dattner Architects and Abel Bainnson Butz Landscape Architects and opened in 1993. The original idea for a park atop the sewage plant was Phillip Johnson's. It is located on the West Side Highway from 137th Street to 145th Street in Upper Manhattan, 69 feet (21 m) above the Hudson River.
The park was built over the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant, which processes 125 million US gallons (470,000 m3) of wastewater every day during dry weather, and is designed to handle up to 340 million US gallons (1,300,000 m3) a day when the weather is wet. In order to minimize odors emitted by the plant, dedicated odor-control facilities have been installed at the plant, including $55 million in recent upgrades. The plant sits on 2,300 caissons pinned into bedrock up to 230 feet (70 m) beneath the river. Construction of the foundation was completed in 1978, and the wastewater treatment facilities were constructed in two phases between 1986 and 1991.
One of only three state parks within Manhattan (the others being Hudson River Park & Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park ), it has become one of the most heavily used state parks in New York. The 28-acre (11 ha) site includes synthetic sport surfaces as well as several acres of "green roofs", with varying depths of soil supporting plantings and trees up to 35 feet (11 m) high. This is the largest green roof in New York City.
The park includes an Olympic-size swimming pool (home to the Riverbank Redtails swim team), a covered skating rink for roller skating in the summer and ice-skating in the winter, an 800-seat cultural theater, a 2,500-seat athletic complex with fitness room, and a 150-seat restaurant. Bicycling is strictly forbidden in the park but the Hudson River Greenway passes at water level. A popular work is the Totally Kid Carousel created by Maria Reidelbach and Milo Mottola.
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