Yonkers uncovers buried river, creating 14,000 sq ft of aquatic habitat

For decades, a section of the Saw Mill River in downtown Yonkers, New York, ran underground beneath a parking lot. The river had once helped the city grow into an industrial town, but as land became scarce, parts of the waterway were squeezed into smaller spaces and eventually covered.The last section of the river in downtown Yonkers was covered in the 1920s. The area became a parking lot called Larkin Plaza. By 2000, the surroundings had changed sharply from their industrial past, with empty and boarded-up buildings around the parking lot and downtown.The city later moved to uncover the buried section of the Saw Mill River. According to ENR, the project replaced the parking lot with a three-acre public park featuring the restored river, waterfalls, a footbridge, boardwalks and a tidal basin.The process was completed in September 2012.