NEW YORK'S ELEVATED PARK

The newest addition to the New York City Parks Department’s stable of over 1,700 parks was unveiled on June 8th. The High Line, a former industrial elevated train track, is now a lush, 4.78-acre public park on Manhattan’s West Side, from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking district to West 20th Street in Chelsea, between 10th and 11th Avenues.

Originally built in the 1930s for more efficient freight travel above street level, the train tracks have been dormant for almost 30 years. Towering 30 feet above ground, the High Line is now an oasis of sorts--green, blossoming and fragrant, amid some aesthetic rust. (See a slideshow of the site.)

The park's construction began in the spring of 2006 after Friends of the High Line, an organisation dedicated to preserving and transforming the property, raised enough private funding to break ground. Designed by landscape architects James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the High Line’s unique approach to urban renewal retains the existing industrial infrastructure but adds greenery, comfortable benches and lights for evening strolls.

High Line “It’s a beautiful green ribbon that will travel from Gansevoort to the Javits Center," said Diane Von Furstenberg, a fashion designer, to the New York Times. Together with Barry Diller, a media mogul, she has donated $10m to the project, the largest ever private donation to a New York City park.

While the park has been a catalyst for other development projects in the stylish yet slightly derelict neighbourhood, it has not been cheap. The first two sections of the High Line cost $152m, according to Michael Bloomberg, New York's mayor. Friends of the High Line raised $44m of that.

The first portion of this park is now open to the public daily, from 7am to 10pm. The second part, which extends the strip to 30th Street, is still under construction, and the third part (up to 34th Street) has yet to be approved. Ultimately the park will extend as far north as Hell’s Kitchen, a beautified steel track running a mile-and-a-half long, garnished with 100 species of plants. During a visit earlier today, there were quite a few people already milling about, reading, pining and taking a moment to sniff at flowers.

~ CASEY DETROW

Picture credit: Sam Felder (via Flickr)