c/o Central Park Conservancy / NYC Parks
One of Central Park’s four remaining cast iron bridges is close to the end of a restoration, and the Central Park Conservancy already has a second project lined up for the same spot. This one would change how people get around beneath it, and a Community Board 7 committee just gave it a unanimous thumbs-up.
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The bridge is Pinebank Arch, located near 62nd Street. Conservancy staff presented the plan to CB7’s Parks and Environment Committee on Monday, September 14.The trouble is the bridle path that runs under the arch. Instead of connecting to the rest of the park’s paths, it just stops, ending in a cul-de-sac. Project manager Cody Erhart told the committee that people cut across lawns and planting beds as they head north toward the ball fields, while others come down onto the bridle path and end up “somewhat trapped” because it doesn’t link up with anything.
The fix is a new asphalt path with a granite block curb, matching the other park paths nearby. It would run where people are already cutting across the lawn and connect to the wider park, with a branch that doubles back to meet the bridle path. The cul-de-sac itself would be scaled down, which Erhart said would bring it “to more of a human scale,” and fitted with boulders for seating, rustic benches and new plantings.
The Conservancy also plans to clear some overgrowth that’s blocked historic views of the arch. Erhart said the goal is to “restore the grandeur of the archway.” The existing DOT lighting under the bridge would be replaced, and the planting plan includes magnolias, pines, understory shrubs and trees, grasses, ferns and perennials. The bridle path would keep its crushed stone surface.
c/o Central Park Conservancy
One committee member, who said she walks the path all the time and has been caught in the dead end herself, asked why the Conservancy didn’t just extend the bridle path. Erhart said the team explored a range of options but decided to keep the path’s current endpoint. He called it “a really well nested location,” tucked below the bridge between two slopes with great views of the arch.
The arch’s own restoration is set to wrap up this fall. The path project would start in spring 2027, assuming it moves through the necessary approvals, and take about a year. The Conservancy estimated the cost at $1 million to $1.5 million, paid for with private funding.
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The idea for the new project came out of research for the arch restoration, according to Diane Jackier Kestenbaum, the Conservancy’s vice president for program management. That restoration includes new decking, recasting missing cast iron pieces, and scraping and repainting the bridge. Jackier Kestenbaum said Pinebank follows the Conservancy’s restorations of Gothic Bridge and Bow Bridge.She also walked the committee through how the bridle path got this way. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux designed the park to separate vehicles, riders on horseback and pedestrians. The original bridle path started around Grand Army Plaza, crossed to the west side and ran up around the reservoir to the 102nd Street cross drive. The southern end was cut back when the Central Park Zoo and Heckscher Playground were built. A spur was added in 1934, part of the trail was cut off in 1936, and a loop added in 1959 was removed in 1982, leaving the cul-de-sac that’s there today.
When a committee member asked whether the carriage horses factored into the plan, Jackier Kestenbaum said the bridle path is entirely separate from them. It’s used by equestrian riders and the park’s mounted officers. She said it isn’t as well used as it was 100 years ago, but there are still horses in the park.
The committee voted unanimously to approve the project.
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