High Line

                                     

The High Line (also known as the High Line Park) is a 1.45-mile-long (2.33 km) New York City linear park built inManhattan on an elevated section of a disused New York Central Railroad spur called the West Side Line.^[1] Inspired by the 3-mile (4.8-kilometer) Promenade plantée (tree-lined walkway), a similar project in Paris completed in 1993, the High Line has been redesigned and planted as an aerial greenway and rails-to-trails park.

The High Line Park is built on the disused southern portion of the West Side Line running to the Lower West Side ofManhattan. It runs from Gansevoort Street – three blocks below 14th Street – in the Meatpacking District, throughChelsea, to the northern edge of the West Side Yard on 34th Street near the Javits Convention Center. An unopened spur extends above 30th Street to Tenth Avenue.^[5] Formerly, the West Side Line went as far south as a railroad terminal toSpring Street just north of Canal Street; however, most of the lower section was demolished in 1960, with another small portion of the lower section being demolished in 1991.

Repurposing of the railway into an urban park began construction in 2006, with the first phase opening in 2009, and the second phase opening in 2011. The third and final phase officially opened to the public on September 21, 2014.A short stub above Tenth Avenue and 30th Street, is still closed as of September 2014, but will open by 2017, once theHudson Yards Redevelopment Project is completed.The project has spurred real estate development in the neighborhoods that lie along the line. As of September 2014, the park gets nearly 5 million visitors annually

The park extends from Gansevoort Street to 34th Street. At 30th Street, the elevated tracks turn west around the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project  to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on 34th Street,^[5]though the northern section is expected to be integrated within the Hudson Yards development ^[16] and the Hudson Park and Boulevard. When the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project's Western Rail Yard is finished in 2018, it will be elevated above the High Line Park, so an exit along the viaduct will be located over the West Side Yard, exiting out to the Western Rail Yard of Hudson Yards.^[17] The 34th Street entrance is at grade level, with wheelchair access.^[5][17]

The park is open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the winter, 10 p.m. in the spring and fall, and 11 p.m. in the summer, except for the Interim Walkway west of 11th Avenue, which is open until dusk. It can be reached through eleven entrances, five of which are accessible to people with disabilities. The wheelchair-accessible entrances, each with stairs and an elevator, are at Gansevoort, 14th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th Streets. Additional staircase-only entrances are located at 18th, 20th, 26th, and 28th Streets, and 11th Avenue. Street level access is available at 34th Street via an "Interim Walkway" between 30th Street/11th Avenue and 34th Street