By Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — A slew of historic statues scattered through Battery Park will soon be replanted along a 600-yard Battery Park bikeway, according to a report in the New York Post.
September 11 tribute "The Sphere," the Salvation Army Memorial, the Netherlands memorial and seven other sculptures and statues are scheduled to move to an expanded cycling path along Battery Place and State Street, the Post reported.
The bikeway will ultimately join the Hudson River Park Bikeway with the East River Esplanade and is due for completion in 2012.
Planning documents for the Battery Park and Bikeway Perimeter say this will "result in improved, dignified settings for each of the monuments, as well as creating more open, uninterrupted green space," according to the Post.
But a spokeswoman for the Parks Department denied that the sculpture move is connected with the city's push to expand bike lanes citywide, according the Post.
"Monuments are being placed where they have the most effect as art, and their placement has nothing to do with the planned connection of the bike paths," a Parks Department spokeswoman said.
The transplants come at a time when the cash-strapped Parks Department is considering laying off groundskeepers and raising fees, according to the Post.
The project is one piece of the Battery Park Conservancy's $11.8 million "master plan" for the park, the newspaper said.
The Parks Department will contribute $4.75 million, but a spokeswoman for the department told the Post the majority of that will go toward a carousel.
The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. is also contributing $3.3 million, the Post reported.
