More parks coming to Battery Park City

Downtown Express photos by Elisabeth Robert

The extension to Teardrop Park

The southern extension of Teardrop Park is expected to be done in about two months. The remaining work by the Battery Park City Authority includes installing benches and other hard material and completing the plantings. The Battery Park City park near North End Ave. first opened in 2004 and the extension will bring the park right next to Poets House, which opened last year, and the B.P.C. Library, which opened last week.

The park extension is one of sevel neighborhood projects expected to open in the next few months.

Next month, an art project at W. Thames St. should be completed. Audrey Matlock’s work resembles a giant manhole cover and will be installed at the end of the street.

The State Dept. of Transportation expects to finish the new West Thames Park by the end of May. The park, which had to close during some of the recontruction of the Route 9A, will have a new tire swing, trees and water play areas. D.O.T. originally proposed eliminating the tire swing, but after a community outcry, the agency agreed to build a new one.