Recently, after years of planning and negotiations, the High Line reopened in NYC. It is now an amazing park that is open to the public that allows spectacular views and shows innovative design. Guillaume and I decided to visit it to see what all the fuss was about.It was really amazing. You can access the park via stairs at three or four different access points. You can see the old
tracks through the giant bushes and wildflowers growing around them. There are benches to rest and take in the interesting aerial view of the street. At one place, there is a mini-theatre style set up of benches looking through a giant glass window over the street. It's an interesting angle to view the cars whooshing by. The path follows the tracks, which wind through new and old buildings.
The design of the park gives you a good glimpse of its history. Built in the 1930s, the High Line was part of the West Side Improvement, a public-private infrastructure project. It was an elevated train track that removed dangerous trains carrying freight off the streets near Manhattan's largest industrial district. Trains stopped running on these tracks in the 1980s.
In 1999, Friends of the High Line formed because the structure was slated to be demolished. This group works in partnership with the City of New York to preserve and maintain the structure. You can see historic photos of the High Line here.
