New York, New York: High Bridge
Tall, decaying chunk of 1848 urban infrastructure, restored and reopened for Manhattan-Bronx foot and bicycle traffic in 2015 after 40 years.
- Address:
- W 173rd St. (near), New York, NY
- Directions:
- The bridge is easier to reach from the Manhattan side: use the 163rd Street Amsterdam Ave. subway stop on the C line, head to West 173rd Streets Highbridge Park and its Water Tower Terrace.
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High Bridge
The High Bridge pedestrian walkway linking the Bronx and Manhattan got a new lease on life in June 2015, when it re-opened for pedestrians after some 40 years and $20 million in renovations.
Now being compared to Manhattan's High Line, the High Bridge is definitely worth a visit. On a recent day, a Circle Line boat plied the tidal Harlem River 140 feet below, while a cormorant swam and dived. Plenty of pedestrians strolled the brick deck, taking in the scrappy yet impressive view of the river, roads, railroad tracks and crumbled waterfront.
The bridge is part of the 26-mile Croton Aqueduct, which carried water to the city -- old pipeline is unseen and dormant under the bridge's deck. Today the old route of the aqueduct is a jogging, bike and hiking trail that passes, 22 miles to the north, by Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, yes that Sleepy Hollow, and four miles away, by the allegedly haunted Van Cortlandt Park.
On the Manhattan side of the bridge, a new wooden staircase hugs a steep bluff. Going down is no big deal. Go up if you must, but it would deter even a piano-laden Laurel and Hardy.
[Scott Berman, 06/29/2015]Nearby Offbeat Places
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