This section of the reconstructed railway overpass can be walked in 10 minutes: it stretches only nine blocks. But next fall, the second part of the park will open, and the project for the third is now under consideration by the authorities. You can get into the opened section of the park from both ends, by a glazed staircase and by an elevator, while slopes are arranged in each block.
Thus, the "transport infrastructure facility" abandoned since the 1980s not only escaped demolition, but also turned into a new green zone in the middle of an industrial landscape, and also became a tool for revitalizing the entire surrounding area: despite the difficult economic situation, along the High Line are now being built or more than 30 projects are under development, including -
a branch of the Whitney Gallery Renzo Piano (a deal to sell a plot of land for him between the city and the museum is now in its final stages).
The architects in their project proceeded from the fact that the main thing for a successful reconstruction is to preserve the unique semi-natural, semi-industrial character of this structure: after the final cessation of train traffic (they transported cattle to the slaughterhouses located in this area), the High Line became an urban wasteland, overgrown with various plants, which in the full sense of the word managed to flourish in a hostile environment of a big city; also different species of birds and insects settled there.
The composition of the flora after the transformation of the wasteland into a park has changed little: more than 100 types of flowers and grasses, planted between the elongated concrete pavement panels and partially preserved rails, are variations on the theme of its original state. Some parts of the flyover will become small “nature reserves” that have completely preserved the original vegetation. The materials used - first of all, concrete and gravel - are designed, together with "unkempt" green spaces, to create the impression of poetic neglect, desolation, a sad image of a certain "world after man".
This year the Hy-Line project celebrates its 10th anniversary. It began with the idea of two locals inspired by the landscaped Promenade Plante flyover in Paris, attracted many influential supporters, including fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg and her husband, media mogul Barry Diller, and is now honored with an opening with the Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg. Local observers see in this story a manifestation of the civic spirit of the townspeople who stood in the way of the owners of land plots under the flyover, who sought to demolish it and sell the land. But the High Line project is rather an exception that is unlikely to become the rule. It remains to be hoped that after the completion of the construction in the surrounding quarters of elite residential buildings designed by Jean Nouvel and
Nila Dinari with a view of the new park will not disappear the need for this very green strip - with the most sad consequences for it.