Railway Renovation Will Bring New Park to Downtown Manhattan

As the concrete sprawl that is Manhattan continues to erect new buildings and concrete edifices throughout the city it is left to those few areas of green to establish some peace and tranquility for those of us who live and/or work in the Big Apple. If you take a look at the map of Manhattan, you'll see that the only real large scale park in Manhattan is Central Park, a beautifully landscaped architectural achievement with its naturalistic placement of boulders and artificial water areas. With an undulating landscape featuring a wide range of trees and other plants the illusion of a natural landscape is well realized. Since it's inception as a park for the people in 1859 there has been little else to get worked up about as far as parks in Manhattan are concerned. That is until 2002, when a 1.5 mile stretch of disused railway line lovingly referred to as the 'High Line' was considered for a potential park area. In 2006 the 'High Line' was finally earmarked for renovation to become Manhattan's newest and tallest park.

Stretching from 34th Street through to just past 12th Street, the disused railway track varies from 30 to 60 feet in width and 18-30 feet in height for a potential park area totaling almost 7 acres. It runs almost parallel to the West Side Highway for some 22 blocks, offering hitherto unseen views of the city. What a truly wonderful idea this is and what a rare occasion when nature beats out development and the City sees the benefits of having this little bit of parkland in downtown Manhattan. Without having to interrupt the flow of work and traffic in the area, work has been progressing to bring to fruition a rather unique vision, courtesy of 'Friends of the High Line' who's initial vision of using a disused railway line as a park was presented to the City in 2002. In April of 2006 Mayor Bloomberg hosted the groundbreaking ceremony to turn an elevated run-down railway line into an official New York park. If things go according to plan then the South section of this line will be open to the public by the summer of 2008. Manhattanites!? will have a brand new destination to help them get away from the hustle and bustle of city life. With unique elevated views of downtown this new park will offer a completely unique experience.

The guiding lights behind getting this transformation from the drawing board to reality is a group calling themselves 'Friends of the High Line' who have (as the name might suggest) been avid supporters of this venture and I have obviously gleaned a lot of this article's information from them. For more indepth information on the current state of the parks progression visit 'thehighline.org' for a very well put together web page with up to date information, photo's, map's etc and look forward to a remarkably well realized addition to New York's parklands.