Essex-Hudson Greenway highline balancing biodiversity with public access for our neighborhoods | Pt 2
In this latest installment from the 2025 Citizen Journalism class, the Community Journalism team presents a two-part story titled “Essex-Hudson Greenway: Balancing Biodiversity with Public Access for Our Neighborhoods.” In Part 2, the team explores national Greenway trends, the role of vegetation and biodiversity, and how public transit connects to the Greenway.
Friends enjoy walking the trails at Branch Brook Park. Aug. 9, 2025. Photo credit: Ande Richards.
Newark, NJ - Cities across the country are reimagining once-forgotten rail lines and industrial corridors as vibrant public spaces providing its residents with places to walk, bike, gather and commune with nature. These transformations have given rise to some of the most celebrated parks in the nation. Now, New Jersey is looking to join that movement, with plans for the Essex-Hudson Greenway and a newly proposed Hackensack River Greenway that could reshape the region’s waterfront for generations.
Across the river in New York City, the High Line turned an elevated freight track into a popular destination for both residents and visitors, offering a birds-eye view of neighborhoods on a path lined with native plants and public art.
Chicago’s 606 sits 20 feet above street level on Chicago’s northwest side. The multi-use recreational park and trail is a popular spot for the city’s runners, bikers, and people who just want to walk. And in Atlanta, the BeltLine is a 22-mile loop of trails, parks, with plans for future transit hubs that will connect 45 neighborhoods.
According to EarthShare N.J. the Hudson County Division of Planning unveiled a draft proposal for the Hackensack River Greenway. This roughly fourteen-mile path along the Hackensack River would complement the Essex-Hudson Greenway plans, incorporating Newark Bay and the Kill Van Kull. The plan envisions a continuous bike and pedestrian path along the eastern bank of the Hackensack River, linking Bayonne, Jersey City, and Secaucus.
Planting native plants helps create healthier, more resilient landscapes. Because they’re adapted to local soils and climate, they require less water and maintenance while providing food and shelter for pollinators, birds, and other wildlife. Their deep root systems prevent erosion, improve soil quality, and filter pollutants, all while supporting biodiversity and preserving the natural character of a region. Branch Brook Park, Aug. 2, 2025. Photo credit: Ande Richards.
Vegetation, pollutants and storm protection
MNLA, the architectural firm that will design the 135 acres of idle land, will focus on establishing a design framework for the Essex-Hudson Greenway that aims to tackle social and environmental criticisms and balance its biodiversity and aesthetics.
The planting strategy includes a combination of green infrastructure and indigenous vegetation with features like rain gardens and bioswales planted with wet-loving grasses, wildflowers, shrubs, and trees designed to capture and filter stormwater which would benefit surrounding neighborhoods affected by flooding especially areas with lots of impervious surfaces like concrete and asphalt.
Densely populated urban areas with little green space are more impacted by pollutants from industry and automobiles with land use often prioritized for housing, schools, government facilities, and commercial development, leaving limited space for parks and natural areas. Retained water nourishes plants and trees, which provide shade, reduce urban heat islands, and improve overall livability.
Ed Potosnak of the NJ League of Conservation Voters stressed the project’s environmental and sustainability impacts, noting its role in reducing urban heat, managing stormwater, and mitigating climate change while providing shade, cleaner air, and safer recreational opportunities for residents.
“When rain falls and seeps into contaminated soil, those pollutants can make their way into our water supply,” Potosnak said. “By preserving this land—not only for access, social opportunities, and recreation—we’re also improving public health, reducing pollution in drinking water, and lowering the risk of cancer or other serious illnesses caused by contamination along rail corridors. That’s a long-term benefit that really cannot be understated.”
A commuter waits for the bus in Newark on July 19, 2025. In Essex County, where Newark is located, about 20.1% of residents rely on public transportation. Photo credit: Jennah Cherry Romain.
Access to the Essex-Hudson Greenway
For residents without convenient or affordable transportation, accessing these spaces can be challenging. Research from the World Health Organization indicates that equitable access to urban green space is associated with improved physical and mental health outcomes.
New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition executive director Debra Kagan emphasized that the Greenway would provide safe, off-road transit options for walking and biking, improving connectivity across urban communities. She noted that residents will be able to use the trail to access schools, parks, errands, and local businesses without relying on cars, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Municipalities can further support access through services like senior shuttles and strategically placed parking.
“Across the country, when trails are developed, they increase local business economic development…people want to be able to live close by, get on a trail, and get off the trail to go to a coffee, lunch, or shopping—all without getting in a car,” Kagan said.
O’Malley shared that NJ Transit is collaborating with NJDEP to potentially extend the Secaucus–Meadowlands Transitway into the future state park, including a dedicated lane for public transit.
For now, the old tracks sit silent. But residents and advocates imagine a different future: families biking, children learning, neighbors meeting on a shaded path. If the Essex-Hudson Greenway delivers on its promise, it will be more than a park. It will be a lifeline, stitching together landscapes and lives.
Kagan said the Greenway has been a major project for her organization since 2002.
“There are many opportunities for people to develop walking programs,” Kagan said. “On other trails, senior groups have organized walking programs and regularly use the trails and greenways for that purpose.”
She said the Greenway is a legacy project and once developed, communities can engage with them and determine how best to use the space.
“The community begins to take ownership of the asset, Kagan said. “This is a multi-generational project that will last for many years, which is why we worked so hard to ensure the state would purchase the right of way and preserve this opportunity.
“Having this kind of open space, both for recreation, for gathering, as a community, you go, you take a walk, you can go from one city to another, you can meet your friends, you can have exercise classes. “It's just this amazing space.
The first phase of the Essex-Hudson Greenway, the Newark segment from Branch Brook Park Drive to Broadway, is expected to open by the end of 2026.
