![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bxtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mill-pond-sign-cropped.avif?quality=51&w=639\")
After construction, Tibbetts Brook will run above ground from Hester and Piero\u2019s Mill Pond to West 230th Street. Photo courtesy Van Cortlandt Park Alliance<\/p>\nThe New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced that work will begin this fall on the Tibbetts Brook \u201cdaylighting\u201d project, one of the city\u2019s largest green infrastructure investments.<\/p>\n
The project will bring the brook above ground for over a mile between Hester and Piero\u2019s Mill Pond to West 230th Street, creating new public parkland and improving local water quality.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After construction, Tibbetts Brook will run above ground from Hester and Piero\u2019s Mill Pond to West 230th Street. Photo courtesy Van Cortlandt Park Alliance<\/p>\n
DEP announced the final steps towards beginning the work. It recently awarded a $149.5 million construction contract and reached an agreement with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) for creating a new conduit for the brook beneath MTA property.<\/p>\n
Local residents and organizations, including The Van Cortlandt Park Alliance and Bronx Council for Environmental Quality, have pushed<\/a> for this work since the 1990s and expressed excitement about it starting soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe daylighting of Tibbetts Brook has been a dream of the Bronx Council for Environmental Quality for the past 30 years,\u201d said Karen Argenti, who served on the Tibbetts Advisory Group, in a statement. <\/p>\n \u201cThis project turns a vacant, garbage-strewn railroad into a natural area with water and green features. The environmental benefits and biodiversity will mitigate critical climate challenges and cool the surrounding area. We are so excited that this next step will get us closer to the completion.\u201d<\/p>\n Tibbetts Brook is a small but significant waterway that begins in Yonkers and flows south into Van Cortlandt Park. It was dammed in the 18th century to create the lake within the park, and in 1912, part of the brook was buried and funneled into the city sewer system at a rate of at least 4 to 5 million gallons per day in dry weather. The water is treated at Wards Island, even though it flowed in cleanly.<\/p>\n The daylighting project will restore the brook\u2019s natural connectivity to the Harlem River rather than the sewers, with several accompanying benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n For one, it will result in a new path for pedestrians and cyclists by extending the Harlem River-Putnam Greenway.\n<\/p>\n It will also remove clean water from the sewer system and reduce sewer overflow into the Harlem River during storms by as much as 215 million gallons per year, according to DEP. This action improves water quality while also eliminating energy costs and emissions required to treat brook water that becomes wastewater.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re proud to mark these important milestones on the Tibbetts Brook daylighting project \u2014DEP\u2019s most ambitious green infrastructure project \u2014 and I am grateful to the local community, NYC Parks and the MTA for their partnership,\u201d said DEP Commissioner Lisa F. Garcia in a statement. \u201cBy restoring the brook above ground, we\u2019re reducing flooding and relieving pressure on our sewers, especially during heavy rainstorms, to create a cleaner, healthier Harlem River.\u201d<\/p>\n Reach Emily Swanson at\u00a0eswanson@schnepsmedia.com<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0(646) 717-0015<\/a>. For more coverage, subscribe to our\u00a0newsletter<\/a>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/TibbettsVCPSouth_Rendering.jpg\")
The project will add more than a mile of pedestrian and cyclist greenway.Rendering courtesy NYC DEP<\/p>\n