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 The High Line's conversion to public open space will transform 1.5 miles of Manhattan, but it also will serve as a model for cities across the country — and around the world.
There are currently several community groups in various stages of converting other rail structures, viaducts and bridges, to public open space. As you can see, cities around the world contain underused, underappreciated structures like the High Line. It's part of our mission at FHL to make the High Line a model for the innovative reuse of these structures to create open space, sustainable transportation options, and social and economic benefits.
We would love to make this list more comprehensive. If you know of a project we should add, please e-mail [email protected]
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Promenade Plantée, Paris |
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Bridge of Flowers, Shelburne Falls, MA |
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Holbeck Viaduct, Leeds, UK |
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Beltline, Atlanta, GA |
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Duisberg Nord Landscape Park, Duisberg, Germany |
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Reading Viaduct, Philadelphia, PA |
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Bloomingdale Trail, Chicago, IL |
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Rail Corridor, St. Louis, MO |
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Harsimus Stem Embankment, Jersey City, NJ |
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High Bridge, Manhattan/Bronx, NY |
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Rockaway Beach Greenway, Queens, NY |
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Hofpleinlijn, Rotterdam, The Netherlands |
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Poughkeepsie Highland Railroad Bridge, Poughkeepsie, NY |
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Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail, FL |
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Stone Arch Bridge and "Bridge 9", Minneapolis, MN |
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Save Our Steel, Bethlehem, PA |
 Promenade Plantée, Paris
From the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, the city of Paris successfully converted the 19th-century elevated Viaduc Daumesnil, in the 12th Arrondissement, near the Bastille, into a pedestrian walkway called the Promenade Plant�e. Rail traffic had stopped on the viaduct in 1969. The 3-mile linear park, designed by Philippe Mathieu and Jacques Vergely, is lavishly planted and offers stairs and elevators for access. Retail spaces, designed by Patrick Berger, were created in the spaces under the masonry arches supporting the structure. The project as a whole helped revitalize the surrounding neighborhood, inspiring new residents and businesses to come to the area. Read More 
 Bridge of Flowers, Shelburne Falls, MA
This 400 foot stone bridge over the Deerfield River was built in 1908 to carry freight and passenger trolleys. Abandoned in 1928 as a trolley bridge, the Bridge of Flowers was saved from demolition the following year by the Shelburne Falls Women’s Club. The bridge was then converted into a linear garden, on which more than 500 varieties of flowers, vines and shrubs are maintained between April and October. It has since come to serve as a centerpiece for the entire municipality of Shelburne Falls, as well as a renowned New England travel destination and therefore, an important economic base for the village. Read More
 Holbeck Viaduct, Leeds, UK
The reuse of this former rail-freight viaduct is proposed as part of the Holbeck Urban Village redevelopment, a revitalization of a former industrial section of Leeds. The redevelopment project focuses on environmental sustainability in its mixed residential, cultural and commercial development. The Holbeck Viaduct, a 1.1-mile elevated structure built in 1882, is supported by 92 stone arches, which may be used for retail spaces. The architectural firm Bauman Lyons recently conducted a feasibility study and is working on a set of preliminary designs for the viaduct’s transformation to a pedestrian green space. Read More
 Beltline, Atlanta, GA
The Beltline is a 22-mile loop of historic railroad currently being planned for conversion to a greenway in downtown Atlanta. The idea came from thesis project by Ryan Gravel, then a graduate student in urban planning. The greenway is designed to connect 40 city parks and 45 neighborhoods for pedestrian and cyclist use. It will be built in tandem with a new mass transit route. Land, to be used for new park space, is currently being acquired through the Trust for Public Land. City planners hope the Beltline will work to revitalize Atlanta's urban center and reduce the city's dependence on cars. The first sections are projected to be complete in the next five years. Read More
 Duisberg Nord Landscape Park, Duisberg, Germany
The Thyssen-Meiderich blast furnace plant is a former steelworks in the Ruhr River basin, an ex-industrial region in Germany. The plant was active from 1903 to 1985. In 1990, the landscape architecture firm of Latz + Partner won a design competition organized by the city of Duisberg to plan for the site’s reuse as a park. The 49-acre former industrial site was incorporated into a larger 500 acre park, which was completed in 2000. Innovative reuses include the installation of walkways through the disused blast furnaces, a scuba diving facility in the now-clean gasometer, lily ponds in the cooling tanks, and bike paths along the rail lines. Read More
Reading Viaduct, Philadelphia, PA
Reading Railroad commuter trains used this 4.7-acre, mile-long viaduct, near the center of downtown Philadelphia, to enter Reading Terminal, at 12th and Market St. Built in 1890, the viaduct is a combination of embankment sections bridged by steel structures and arched masonry bridges. Service stopped on the viaduct in 1984, when an underground commuter tunnel replaced the viaduct. Today the viaduct's four elevated tracks have been overtaken by grasses and trees. In 2003, residents of the surrounding neighborhood formed the Reading Viaduct Project, with the goal of transforming the viaduct to an elevated walkway in conjunction with the redevelopment of their neighborhood. Read More
 Bloomingdale Trail, Chicago, IL
The Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail (FBT), formed in 2003, is a grassroots, community organization working to convert the underutilized Bloomingdale freight railroad embankment into an elevated, mixed-use greenway. The park proposed for Chicago�s Bloomingdale Trail would stretch three miles across the city�s Northwest Side, linking the Chicago River with the city�s boulevard and transit systems, parks, and several vibrant commercial districts. In 2004, the City developed concept plans for the trail. In addition, the City has funded and is currently executing environmental assessments. FBT is currently working with the Chicago Architecture Foundation and several other partners to mount an open design competition. Read More
 Rail Corridor, St. Louis, MO
In 2005, the Trust for Public Land acquired an abandoned two-mile-long rail corridor running through St. Louis�s Produce Row and conveyed it to the Great Rivers Greenway District. The corridor includes a historic elevated rail structure. It will be developed by the District into a biking and pedestrian route, connecting densely populated neighborhoods north of downtown to the popular Riverfront Trail along the Mississippi River and the Branch Street Trestle Connector, as well as the McKinley Bridge Bikeway leading into Illinois. Planning and design for the project will begin in 2007, with efforts made to connect it to a larger network of paths throughout Missouri and Illinois. Read More
 Harsimus Stem Embankment, Jersey City, NJ
Built in 1902, the Harsimus Stem Embankment is a former rail viaduct that runs for six blocks along Sixth Street in downtown Jersey City. The Embankment once served as the eastern freight terminus for the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1998, the Embankment Preservation Coalition formed with the mission of preserving the historic structure and developing it as open space, integrating the site into a network of local and regional pedestrian and biking trails. In 2003, the East Coast Greenway Alliance, which is joining local trails in a 2600-mile pedestrian and bicycling path from Florida to Maine, endorsed a route through New Jersey that includes the Embankment. Read More
 The High Bridge, Manhattan/Bronx, NY
The High Bridge, built in 1848 as part of the Old Croton Aqueduct, is New York City's oldest standing bridge. It spans the Harlem River, connecting Manhattan and the Bronx. The bridge is 1,450 feet long and 110 feet high, and is a New York City Landmark. The High Bridge Coalition, a group of community organizations and public agencies, began a campaign in 1998 to restore the High Bridge. Once opened, the bridge will provide a significant link in the growing New York City Greenway System. In 2003, the project was selected as a Catalyst Project supported by the City Parks Foundation and Partnerships for Parks. This four-year initiative focuses on building community support, developing programming and targeting additional resources. Read More
 Rockaway Beach Greenway, Queens, NY
The Rockaway Beach Branch Greenway is a proposed 3.5-mile bicycling and pedestrian path that would stretch between Rego Park and Ozone Park. The path would follow an abandoned railroad right-of-way which is currently owned by the City. The Rockaway Branch Greenway Committee (RBGC), a community group catalyzing support for the greenway, won a recent victory when Community Board 9 voted to support the project. In addition, the committee has already cleared some sections of the corridor, and gained the support of the New York City Planning Commission, which is undertaking a feasibility study. Community youth have made substantial contributions to the effort through presentations at public meetings and corridor clean ups. Read More
 Hofpleinlijn, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
The Hofpleinlijn is a 1.2-mile-long concrete elevated rail track built in 1908 in the harbor city of Rotterdam. The structure has been designated as a national landmark, and it houses approximately 140 small, commercial and retail spaces under the rail track. Due to a new rail configuration in the Rotterdam metropolitan area, trains will stop running in 2009. Anticipating this, a group of Rotterdam-based not-for-profit housing developers, called CityCorp, recently acquired the Hofpleinlijn from the railway company. In 2006, the design principles for the track�s redevelopment will be established as CityCorp pursues a planning process with creative input from the residential and business community. Read More
 Poughkeepsie Highland Railroad Bridge, Poughkeepsie, NY
The Poughkeepsie Highland Railroad Bridge, opened in 1889, was the first bridge to be built over the Hudson River, and is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places. Walkway Over the Hudson is a not for profit corporation dedicated to preserving the bridge and turning it into a park. As owners of the bridge as well as the land under it, Walkway is working with federal, state and local officials to secure funding and to connect to existing trails on both sides of the Hudson. When restoration is complete, the bridge will connect more than 30 miles of trails in the adjoining counties. Read More
 Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail, FL
In development since 2000, the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail will eventually stretch 106 miles from Key Largo to Key West. The project will retrofit and adaptively reuse many overseas bridges of Henry Flagler's railroad route as bike/pedestrian trails. There are 23 historic bridges, all of which are nearly one hundred years old and have been listed on the National Register. The State Division of Parks is undertaking the project, which includes trail amenities such as landscaping, gazebos, signage, bike racks and benches. Forty miles of new trails are in design, twenty miles of which will be under construction beginning this year. Read More
 Stone Arch Bridge and "Bridge 9",
Minneapolis, MN
This 2,100-foot-long granite and limestone bridge was built in 1883 in downtown Minneapolis to move freight and passengers across the Mississippi river. It is the only stone arch bridge to cross the Mississippi and it was a working rail bridge until 1978. Rehabilitation of this National Historic Engineering Landmark began in 1993, and it now accommodates pedestrians and cyclists. Nearby, a former Northern Pacific rail bridge (known locally as "Bridge 9") was reopened as the Dinkytown Bikeway Connection in 2000. The 1400-foot-long bridge was purchased by the city of Minneapolis for $1 in 1986 after years of disuse. The rail-to-trail conversion is part of the city's extensive bikeway network connecting the East and West Bank campuses of the University of Minnesota. Read More
 Bethlehem Steel Plant, Bethlehem, PA
The disused Bethlehem Steel Plant is a 120 acre site on the Lehigh River. The complex of machinery, rails and structures includes five massive blast furnaces that tower over the city. Steel from this plant was used to build such landmarks as the Chrysler Building, Lever House, and the UN as well as the George Washington, Verrazano Narrows and Golden Gate bridges. Save Our Steel is a grassroots community group working to encourage the historically sensitive reuse of the site. Their main focus is to promote cooperation among groups interested in redeveloping the former steel plant while maintaining its industrial heritage. Read More
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Support the High Line
By becoming a Charter Member of Friends of the High Line, you will become part of an ever-growing group of supporters working to make the High Line vision a reality.
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Do Not Trespass
The High Line is currently owned by the City of New York. It is not open to the public. Please do not trespass. |
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