Green-Wood Cemetery is floating a curbside makeover along its southern edge that would turn sleepy blocks into a two-way protected bike corridor and a new front door for Sunset Park. The plan, dubbed a "Greenway," would convert underused parking on 36th and 37th Streets into a two-way bikeway and wider sidewalks, and would reconfigure Fort Hamilton Parkway. It also calls for a new entrance at Ninth Avenue and 37th Street that cemetery leaders say would finally give Sunset Park residents a direct route into the grounds. Cemetery officials pitch the project as a way to reclaim a desolate curb strip and layer in landscaping, seating and broader sidewalks that staff would maintain.
What Green-Wood Is Proposing
At an April meeting of Brooklyn Community Board 7, Green-Wood President Meera Joshi described the southern strip as "a magnet for illegal dumping and illegal truck parking" and said the cemetery is asking the city for $3.3 million this year to pay for design and outreach, with the full build estimated at about $15 million, as reported by Streetsblog New York City. The proposal would swap underused curbside parking on 36th and 37th Streets for a two-way bikeway plus expanded sidewalks, and would split the Fort Hamilton Parkway sidewalk into separate paths for bikes and pedestrians buffered by planters and benches. Cemetery leaders said the new Ninth Avenue and 37th Street entrance would be the first truly direct access point for Sunset Park residents, who now have to detour to Fourth Avenue, Fifth Avenue or the far end of Fort Hamilton Parkway to reach existing gates.
Safety Record Along The Southern Border
City collision maps and NYPD crash records show a tight cluster of crashes along Fort Hamilton Parkway and the adjoining 36th to 37th Street corridor, a pattern Green-Wood officials and street safety advocates say underscores the need for changes. Public crash maps built from NYPD data, including visualizations on CrashMapper, show roughly 97 crashes in that corridor over the past five years, leading to about 128 injuries and three deaths, figures Green-Wood cited to the community board. Advocates told board members that those totals highlight how a physically protected route could cut down conflicts among heavy vehicles, delivery traffic and people moving on foot or by bike.
Community Board Backing And Concerns
Brooklyn Community Board 7 voted to keep the idea moving and to seek funding for design and outreach, but members made clear they want stronger protections than simple plastic flex posts. Council Member Alexa Avilés called the greenway "a positive investment" while stressing that any move forward has to include robust community engagement, according to Streetsblog New York City. Committee members also warned that any redesign will have to untangle potential conflicts with MTA bus depot parking and truck access before it can be built.
Green-Wood’s Rules And The Irony
The push for a bike route comes with an obvious bit of irony. Green-Wood has long banned cyclists, joggers, scooters and rollerblades inside its gates except when they are part of a funeral procession, and it tells visitors to lock bikes at racks outside the cemetery. The cemetery’s rules and regulations, posted online, focus on preserving a contemplative atmosphere for mourners. Green-Wood is a large, historic burial ground, and its current president Meera Joshi, who previously served as a deputy mayor, has said she wants to make the site more welcoming. Joshi’s appointment was reported by the Brooklyn Eagle, and the cemetery’s rules are published on its website.
How The Proposal Fits Citywide
The Green-Wood concept lines up with a broader city trend of building protected, sidewalk-level, two-way bike lanes along the edges of major parks. NYC DOT and its partners are already advancing that kind of treatment on Prospect Park’s Ocean Avenue side. The agency announced a roughly $15.5 million project there to install a sidewalk-level, two-way protected bike lane and a redesigned park entrance along Ocean Avenue, a model advocates point to as a preview of what perimeter greenways can look like, according to an NYC DOT press release. Supporters say these perimeter routes can close gaps in the bike network while leaving interior park paths calmer for walkers, families and programmed activities.
What comes next hinges on city funding and technical legwork. The CB7 vote puts the Green-Wood Greenway into a potential design-and-outreach phase if the city or other funders come through with the requested seed money, and any curbside overhaul will require months of study, public meetings and back-and-forth with DOT and the MTA. For now, neighbors, cyclists and cemetery stewards are waiting to see whether design dollars appear and how the promised outreach will shape if, and how, the Green-Wood Greenway moves from sketch to street.
