Comments on: New York City's High Line

New York City's High Line

aletheia — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:16:44 -0800

Design plans for the much talked about High Line in NYC were unveiled today. It has been hotly anticipated as one of the most distinctive public projects in generations.

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:24:29 -0800

well thank God they're not trying to improve transport on the East Side at all.

By: aletheia

aletheia — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:29:38 -0800

Well I'm still foolishly waiting for the 2nd ave subway (apparently to become the "T" line). Hopefully before I die.

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:30:46 -0800

Just wait until the cyclists decide to take it over.

By: mikearauz

mikearauz — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:32:18 -0800

wow. it looks beautiful. i can't wait to see it in person.

By: caddis

caddis — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:33:26 -0800

Very cool. Highline.org Jason explores the High Line

By: xthlc

xthlc — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:35:21 -0800

I'm a big fan of long and skinny parks. I love Boston's Southwest Corridor; it not only provides convenient greenspace to a huge number of people, it's a vastly more pleasant way to go between downtown, Back Bay and Jamaica Plain. The High Line looks like a great idea, but it's quite a narrow space; in some of the "mixed use" area drawings you can barely fit three people abreast on the path. The balance between park and pedestrian walkway becomes very tricky when you only have 30-60 feet to work with.

By: [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST]

[NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:37:27 -0800

Traveling along the high line on foot before it was converted is one of my favorite-- and strangest-- memories in this city. Sneaking through Port Authority backlots, crawling through weeds, discovering weird sculptures and ruins under the moonlight, electing to scramble down to the roof of a convenience store to keep from having to walk back the whole way. It was unreal. I'm excited for the development and have even participated in fundraising for it, but I haven't gone back to check out what's happening. I think I prefer to keep my initial memories intact for as long as I possibly can.

By: xthlc

xthlc — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:38:43 -0800

Also, if the planners have any sense at all, anything with wheels that is not a wheelchair will be banned banned banned.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:45:19 -0800

Yay park! I agree, it will be difficult to get bikes in there happily...

By: JaredSeth

JaredSeth — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:57:54 -0800

I can't see any reason to allow bikes or blading...the West Side Highway bike path is only a block away. It also doesn't really sound like any of the ramps they're putting in are designed to accomodate bicycles. For that matter, there are dog runs over there too, so I wonder if they're planning on allowing people to bring their dogs up there. I would think that might be an issue given how narrow the space is (as xthlc mentioned).

By: Mr. Ugh

Mr. Ugh — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:58:03 -0800

No bikes, no skates, no jogging. It's a slow park. Yay!

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:09:13 -0800

As an avid cyclist, I say "hoo-ray" to the no bikes rule. There isn't enough room sometimes for bikes and pedestrians. As far as rollerbladers go, there isn't enough room on earth for me to co-exist peacefully with them. [INELUCTABLY ROLLERBLADERIST]

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:16:40 -0800

I'm a big fan of long and skinny parks. Rails to trails

By: hecho de la basura

hecho de la basura — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:17:35 -0800

When I saw this linked I kept thinking "Where have I read about this before?" Then I remembered that it was seven (!) years ago in the New Yorker. The plans are incredible!

By: ericbop

ericbop — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:30:03 -0800

This would have totally ruined the ending to Batman Begins.

By: ericb

ericb — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:35:07 -0800

I'm a big fan of long and skinny parks. I love Boston's Southwest Corridor... Also, Boston's new Rose Kennedy Greenway^* is a welcome reclamation of the land where the old, ugly Central Artery once stood, having previously divided downtown from the waterfront.

By: kimdog

kimdog — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:54:47 -0800

I just moved two blocks away from the High Line, and I am so excited. I remember about 5 years ago the city asked a bunch of urban planners/ artists/ designers to submit their pie-in-the-sky conceptualizations for the space. I most noticeably remember one that reinvented the High Line as a lap pool, and another that utilized the rails to transport some sort of moveable cafe/shop thing. But I can see the influence of these plans trickling into the current design (like the little wading stream/walk). Oh, and if you want to see some footage of the "raw" High Line circa 1992 you can check it out in this Dana Dawson video at the 1:16 mark (and it's probably best if you just skip the first minute anyway). A friend of mine worked on this video and they had sneak up there to get the footage.

By: ericb

ericb — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:02:44 -0800

I remember about 5 years ago the city asked a bunch of urban planners/ artists/ designers to submit their pie-in-the-sky conceptualizations for the space.... High Line Design Competition -- 720 entries from 36 countries.

By: ericb

ericb — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:04:16 -0800

High Line as a lap pool... In This Pool, a Single Lap Is a Workout .

By: ericb

ericb — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:06:23 -0800

Rendering of the High Line as a Lap Pool.

By: markkraft

markkraft — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:59:30 -0800

Great. ...and what about the WTC?!

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:18:17 -0800

Ha ha ha, fuck the east side! West side forever! [this is cool]

By: smackfu

smackfu — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:22:32 -0800

If you were feeling dejavu that you had seen designs for this already: these are just the final (no really!) designs. Since the first phase is supposed to be finished by the end of the year, and it's been under contruction for a while, the initial release of the designs was a while ago.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:54:14 -0800

I love the bike hate. They should ban pedestrians, too. Let that elevated rail return to nature.

By: allkindsoftime

allkindsoftime — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 01:16:57 -0800

Umm. I might know of one or two MeFites who decided to hike the highline one recent early Sunday morning. Maybe.

By: sachinag

sachinag — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:57:41 -0800

Interesting - the Bloomingdale Trail folks here in Chicago seem to be very pro-bike, so I wonder how the High Line's design choices will affect them.