The High Line

The High Line runs above the streets of Manhattan's West Side for 2.33 kilometres, from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District, through Chelsea, to West 34th Street at Hudson Yards. It is owned by the City of New York and maintained by the nonprofit Friends of the High Line.

The elevated rail line opened in 1934 to carry freight trains above street level and end dangerous crossings on Tenth Avenue. Trains stopped running in 1980, and wild plants took over the tracks. Local residents formed Friends of the High Line in 1999 to save it from demolition, and the first section opened as a park in 2009, with later sections in 2011 and 2014.

The design is by James Corner Field Operations, Diller Scofidio + Renfro and planting designer Piet Oudolf. Paths of concrete planks run among grasses, perennials and trees chosen to recall the self-seeded plants that once grew on the tracks, and sections of the old rails remain in place.

Along the way are seating steps facing Tenth Avenue, a sundeck with water features, changing public art commissions and views of the Hudson River and buildings by well-known architects. The Whitney Museum of American Art stands at the southern end, and Chelsea Market and Hudson Yards are next to the line.

Entry is free and there are stairs and elevators at several points. Hours change by season, and the park can be very busy on weekend afternoons, so early morning is quieter.

The railway itself came out of a safety problem. Freight trains once ran at street level along Tenth and Eleventh Avenues, a stretch nicknamed Death Avenue; a 1910 estimate counted 548 deaths and 1,574 injuries on Eleventh Avenue alone. The West Side Improvement Project of 1929 removed 105 street crossings, and building the elevated line through the middle of blocks meant demolishing 640 buildings.

Saving the structure took a private campaign. Joshua David and Robert Hammond founded Friends of the High Line in October 1999, and a 2003 ideas competition drew more than 720 entries from 38 countries. The group raised over $150 million for the first two sections and still covers more than 90 per cent of the park's yearly operating budget, about $11.5 million, from private donations. Ten horticulturists look after around 400 plant species and 100,000 plants growing in soil that averages 18 inches deep.

The newest additions sit at the north end. The Plinth, opened on 4 June 2019 at the Tenth Avenue Spur, shows a large contemporary sculpture that changes every 18 months, a nod to the Fourth Plinth in London. In June 2023 the Moynihan Connector, a 1,200-foot walkway, linked the Spur east to Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station. The park opens at 7 am and closes at 10 pm in the warmer months and 8 pm in winter. Of its eleven entrances, five are accessible for wheelchair users. Around 8 million people walked the line each year by 2019, so weekday mornings are the calmest time.