New York City’s High Line Getting a Massive Timber Bridge

New York City’s High Line Park has become one of the most visited places in the city and now it’s about to get a signature new feature: a timber bridge nearly 300 feet long,

The High Line Park on Manhattan’s West Side was a controversial idea when it was first proposed in the early 2000s but it has proven to be one of the most popular attractions for locals and tourists alike ever since.

So, the opening, expected later this month, of a brand new 300-foot-long walkway and elevated bridge as the latest element of the park promises to be a signature piece both for the park and for the timber industry.

More than eight million people visit the High Line each year and starting in late June they will be able to walk the new bridge, which connects the park with the Moynihan Train Hall, itself a repurposing of an existing facility put to a new use. Comprising two structures, the High Line-Moynihan Train Hall Connector will provide easy access to this burgeoning new neighborhood without any need to cross busy city streets.

The centerpiece of the Connector is a 260-foot bridge made of 163 beams of Alaskan yellow cedar wood from British Columbia. It was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill with additional landscape design by James Field Corner Operations. Work began last April with the bridge itself being craned into place in May and suspended 25 feet over the streets below. The timber bridge will link what is being called the Woodlands Bridge, which will extend east from the existing northern terminus of the elevated park. High Line executive director Alan van Capelle, in previewing the bridge, told the New York Times it will be a “green, safe, accessible, and inspiring” alternative to the city’s busy streets below. “This is going to be a much more pleasant and exciting way to get to different parts of our city on the West Side.”

Image: Empire State Development, Brookfield Properties, and Friends of the High Line

BACK TO NEWS