The High Line Viewing Area
From Gansevoort Street to 34th Street, between 10th & 11th Avenues, NYC
by navema
The High Line is a park built on a section of the former elevated freight railroad spur called the West Side Line, which runs along the lower west side of Manhattan; it has been redesigned and planted as an aerial greenway.
In 1847, the City of New York authorizes street-level railroad tracks down Manhattan’s West Side. Between 1851 – 1929, so many accidents occur between freight trains and street-level traffic that 10th Avenue becomes known as Death Avenue. For safety, men on horses, called the West Side Cowboys, ride in front of trains waving red flags.
The High Line was built in the 1930s, as part of a massive public-private infrastructure project called the West Side Improvement. It lifted freight traffic 30 feet in the air, removing dangerous trains from the streets of Manhattan's largest industrial district. The entire project was 13 miles long, eliminated 105 street-level railroad crossings, and added 32 acres to Riverside Park. It cost over $150 million in 1930 dollars—more than $2 billion today. In 1934, the High Line opens to trains. It runs from 34th Street to St. John’s Park Terminal, at Spring Street. It is designed to go through the center of blocks, rather than over the avenue, to avoid creating the negative conditions associated with elevated subways. It connects directly to factories and warehouses, allowing trains to roll right inside buildings. Milk, meat, produce, and raw and manufactured goods come and go without causing street-level traffic.
No trains have run on the High Line since 1980 - the last train ran on the High Line pulling three carloads of frozen turkeys. Friends of the High Line, a community-based non-profit group, formed in 1999 when the historic structure was under threat of demolition. Friends of the High Line works in partnership with the City of New York to preserve and maintain the structure as an elevated public park.
The project gained the City's support in 2002, and in 2003, an open ideas competition, "Designing the High Line," solicited proposals for the High Line's reuse. 720 teams from 36 countries entered - hundreds of design entries were displayed at Grand Central Terminal. The selected team was established in 2004: James Corner Field Operations, a landscape architecture firm, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, an architecture firm, and experts in horticulture, engineering, security, maintenance, public art, and other disciplines.
In 2006, groundbreaking is celebrated on the High Line with the lifting of a rail track, and the beginning of construction begins. On June 9, 2009, the first section (Gansevoort Street to West 20th Street) opens to the public. The second section (West 20th Street to West 30th Street) is projected to open in spring, 2011.
When all sections are complete, the High Line will be a mile-and-a-half-long elevated park, running through the West Side neighborhoods of the Meatpacking District, West Chelsea and Clinton/Hell's Kitchen. It features an integrated landscape, combining meandering concrete pathways with naturalistic plantings. Fixed and movable seating, lighting, and special features are also included in the park.
Access points from street level will be located every two to three blocks. Many of these access points will include elevators, and all will include stairs.
For more information, visit: www.thehighline.org
The High Line Viewing Area
From Gansevoort Street to 34th Street, between 10th & 11th Avenues, NYC
by navema
The High Line is a park built on a section of the former elevated freight railroad spur called the West Side Line, which runs along the lower west side of Manhattan; it has been redesigned and planted as an aerial greenway.
In 1847, the City of New York authorizes street-level railroad tracks down Manhattan’s West Side. Between 1851 – 1929, so many accidents occur between freight trains and street-level traffic that 10th Avenue becomes known as Death Avenue. For safety, men on horses, called the West Side Cowboys, ride in front of trains waving red flags.
The High Line was built in the 1930s, as part of a massive public-private infrastructure project called the West Side Improvement. It lifted freight traffic 30 feet in the air, removing dangerous trains from the streets of Manhattan's largest industrial district. The entire project was 13 miles long, eliminated 105 street-level railroad crossings, and added 32 acres to Riverside Park. It cost over $150 million in 1930 dollars—more than $2 billion today. In 1934, the High Line opens to trains. It runs from 34th Street to St. John’s Park Terminal, at Spring Street. It is designed to go through the center of blocks, rather than over the avenue, to avoid creating the negative conditions associated with elevated subways. It connects directly to factories and warehouses, allowing trains to roll right inside buildings. Milk, meat, produce, and raw and manufactured goods come and go without causing street-level traffic.
No trains have run on the High Line since 1980 - the last train ran on the High Line pulling three carloads of frozen turkeys. Friends of the High Line, a community-based non-profit group, formed in 1999 when the historic structure was under threat of demolition. Friends of the High Line works in partnership with the City of New York to preserve and maintain the structure as an elevated public park.
The project gained the City's support in 2002, and in 2003, an open ideas competition, "Designing the High Line," solicited proposals for the High Line's reuse. 720 teams from 36 countries entered - hundreds of design entries were displayed at Grand Central Terminal. The selected team was established in 2004: James Corner Field Operations, a landscape architecture firm, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, an architecture firm, and experts in horticulture, engineering, security, maintenance, public art, and other disciplines.
In 2006, groundbreaking is celebrated on the High Line with the lifting of a rail track, and the beginning of construction begins. On June 9, 2009, the first section (Gansevoort Street to West 20th Street) opens to the public. The second section (West 20th Street to West 30th Street) is projected to open in spring, 2011.
When all sections are complete, the High Line will be a mile-and-a-half-long elevated park, running through the West Side neighborhoods of the Meatpacking District, West Chelsea and Clinton/Hell's Kitchen. It features an integrated landscape, combining meandering concrete pathways with naturalistic plantings. Fixed and movable seating, lighting, and special features are also included in the park.
Access points from street level will be located every two to three blocks. Many of these access points will include elevators, and all will include stairs.
For more information, visit: www.thehighline.org