High Hopes for the High Line - preserving elevated railway line - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Art in America, Oct, 2001 by Tracey C. Hummer

It's been just over 20 years since the last freight trains rumbled atop the High Line, an elevated track that snakes through New York's Chelsea along Tenth Avenue from Gansevoort to 34th Street. Today, it is a quiet green corridor brimming with grasses, bushes and wildflowers; it also affords sweeping views of the Hudson River and the city's skyline. A concerted effort is under way to redevelop it as a pedestrian walkway and park. This plan is opposed, however, by a number of individuals who own property beneath or adjacent to the 1.45-mile viaduct; they seek its removal and are close to meeting the conditions necessary to proceed with demolition.

Meanwhile, Friends of the High Line (FHL), a group founded two and a half years ago by food, travel and design writer Joshua David and artist/entrepreneur Robert Hammond, is working to head off the High Line's destruction. The organization includes members of the art, architecture and urban design communities, elected officials, and some of Chelsea's local business people, including numerous gallery owners. The High Line was built in the early 1930s by the New York Central Railroad and is now owned by CSX Transportation, which maintains and pays property taxes on the structure (about $400,000 per year). CSX is working with both parties in the dispute, aiming for a resolution that "best suits the community" while removing itself from the equation.

FHL has the support of many city and state officials as well as mayoral candidates Michael Bloomberg, Fernando Ferrer, Mark Green, Alan Hevesi and Peter Vallone. Mayor Giuliani's office, however, maintains that the tracks are unsafe and a blight on the neighborhood, and favors demolition. This past spring, the city council sponsored a resolution in favor of the preservation project and awarded FHL a $125,000 grant that was used to conduct a structural analysis, which confirmed that the rail line is sound.

Since a federal agency, the Surface Transportation Board (sucessor to the Interstate Commerce Commission), has jurisdiction over railway lines, the Friends of the High Line will petition the STB to qualify for the federally funded Rails-to-Trails program which, to date, has produced more than 10,000 miles of trails across the country. An important component of the program would be the preservation of the rail line's right-of-way, leaving open the possibility not only for bicycle paths but also for light rail.

An encouraging precedent for the project is Paris's highly successful Promenade Plantee, an elevated three-mile pedestrian park atop an abandoned railway viaduct near the Place de la Bastille. FHL sees tremendous opportunity and public benefit in preserving the 300,000 square feet of infrastructure.

But FHL has its work cut out for it. The group can only move forward if a demolition order pending since 1992 is blocked. With construction costs estimated (by FHL) at $40 million to renovate, reinforce and convert the viaduct for public access, further redevelopment and ongoing maintenance for the project would rely on both private and public funding, and would certainly require the cooperation of the next mayor and governor.

In July, the Friends group held an art auction and fundraiser at Mary Boone Gallery that brought in $200,000. Among those who contributed works were Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Alexis Rockman, Tom Sachs, Mike and Doug Starn, architect Steven Holl and photographer Joel Sternfeld. Sternfeld's photo series of the improbably bucolic elevated pathway have been instrumental in raising awareness of the project's potential.

Architects Casey Jones and Keller Easterling received fellowships from New York City's Design Trust for Public Space (an independent not-for-profit organization pairing design professionals with the public sector on selected planning, design and development issues) to investigate the High Line's urban context and precedents for elevated track redevelopment and to propose reuse alternatives. Easterling launched an interactive Web site (accessed through www.thehighline.org) in September, and Jones will publish his findings later this fall. Their conclusions will be presented in an exhibition, "Reclaiming the High Line," at the Municipal Arts Society, to open in January 2002. For now, this self-seeded, sprawling cause celebre still awaits its fate.