• Creating a new destination playground set into the slope of Bear Mountain with multi-leveled play areas connected by a continuous ADA-accessible path, rock scrambles and slides up to 70 feet in length.

• Expansion of paved picnic areas along the western side of the main lawn and south end of Hessian Lake to increase capacity while reducing erosion of park landscape and impacts to existing trees.

• Landscape enhancements, including protection of existing mature shade trees and planting of new shade trees, native shrubs, perennials and meadows.

• Construction of a new high-capacity public restroom and gathering plaza.

• “Daylighting” an existing stormwater drainage pipe and creation of a naturalized stormwater management basin to reduce sedimentation of Hessian Lake.

• Modernizing electrical infrastructure and improving stormwater management.

• Completing needed structural repairs to existing facilities.

Once completed, the project will have doubled the number of picnic areas and increased the number of bathroom fixtures by 20. Construction will start after Labor Day 2025, with completion expected during the Summer 2027 recreational season. While the park will remain open during construction, some capacity restrictions will be in place, state officials said.

Located on the western shoreline of the Hudson River about 40 miles north of New York City, the 5,205-acre flagship park is one of the oldest in the State Parks system. More than 2.3 million visitors came to Bear Mountain last year, an increase of more than 25 percent during the last decade.