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Golden crowbars pulling up 19th-century railroad spikes christened the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge this week, ready to be reborn as the longest shore-to-shore walkway in the world.
On Tuesday, May 27, federal, state and nonprofit leaders gathered at the Highland side of the bridge to ceremonially kick off construction on Walkway Over the Hudson’s elevated pedestrian park, 212 feet above the river. The actual breaking of ground, in a metaphorical sense, was to take place on May 28, when workers were expected to start discarding deck panels to expose the bridge’s steel skeleton. By August 2009, the new and improved walkway is scheduled to open to the public in time for incorporation with the Henry Hudson Quadricentennial Celebration, a yearlong event honoring the discovery of the Hudson River and Lake Champlain.
More than 200 gathered under a tent to hear brief speeches. The more courageous ventured out onto the 6,767-foot bridge for one last look until the rebirth of the span as the Walkway next year.
Speakers touched upon the theme of the project as a milestone in the history of the Hudson Valley and a boon to bringing in more tourist dollars. “We expect it to be world-famous,” said Fred Schaeffer, chairman of Walkway Over the Hudson, the 501(c)(3) organization leading the transformation. The group, made up of local citizens from many walks of life, has been working for 15 years to turn the opened-in-1889 railroad bridge, which has not been used for train traffic since a 1974 fire, into a pedestrian walkway.
Ned Sullivan, president of Scenic Hudson, announced his organization’s donation of a million dollars to bolster fundraising efforts. “It is our hope at Scenic Hudson that our contribution will inspire others to step forward and make their contribution, whether large or small, in bringing to fruition this great legacy project,” he said. “Let’s hear it for the grassroots activists who have really brought this fruit to bear.”
Gubernatorial secretary Judith Enck, representing governor David Paterson, said the Walkway effort built upon “a wonderful tradition of citizen activism along the Hudson.” Walkway recently launched an aggressive fundraising campaign, reaching out to foundations, corporations, government organizations and individuals to fund the $30 million construction project. Schaeffer related how on a recent visit to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida he had heard about the Herculean effort to land a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth. “This is almost just as hard, to do this project,” he said.
The landmark’s potential to pump up tourism and to attract residents and businesses to the area has attracted both public and private investors. The 2008 New York State budget allotted $8 million to the project this year and is expected to allot $8 million next year. (An additional $1.25 million member line item, courtesy of Saland, has been held up along with many other member items by Paterson.) There’s also $895,000 from the federal transportation budget plus an $874,000 Transportation Initiative Project (TIP) grant, both secured by Hinchey, and a $1.5 million investment by the Dyson Foundation.
Hinchey, the project’s earliest political proponent, said another $2 million for Walkway is earmarked in an upcoming appropriations bill. Extra funding may also be available in future federal transportation bills.
“(Walkway Over the Hudson) has more momentum, more energy, than any of the trains coming across that bridge,” exulted Hinchey. “More power to get from one end to the other, and rehabilitate this wonderful project – and make it into something that is going to be extraordinary for the Hudson Valley.”
For more information about Walkway Over the Hudson visit www.walkway.org or call 454-9649.
