The Bridges of New York Country Part 3 - First Time On the Bridge

Walking across every bridge to Manhattan is an admirable goal. And New York City has done much better with pedestrian access to it's crossings. Still, there are four bridges around the island of Manhattan with no pedestrian access - two rail bridges (the Spuyten Duyvil and Park Avenue bridges) the Alexander Hamilton Bridge between Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, which is part of the Federal Interstate system, and High Bridge, the old aqueduct bridge closed to the public for decades.

Exactly when the pedestrian walkway was closed is a bit of an unknown. Generally it's put as some time in the 1960s, and the cause attributed to kids throwing stuff of the bridge and hitting Circle Line boat passengers (which is documented as happening at least once, but in 1958). Another theory I've read is that it was closed for structural reasons during the construction of the Alexander Hamilton Bridge. My honest assumption is that the Parks Department just got tired of dealing with it and locked it off one day. The residents of those neighborhoods, being poor and having no political clout back then, were easily ignored.

It's a testament to just how much we ignored our architectural history and sense of place in New York at the time that there's not even an article in our paper of record documenting its closing. Ever since High Bridge has held the distinction of being New York's only completely disused bridge. Well, more like 99.9% disused - on occasion people from neighborhood kids, to artists, to your average curious urbanist have found cause to make use of one New York's most fascinating places.

After I had discovered it, I became almost obsessed with finding a way on. One day I set out to the Bronx with a couple companions, and managed to find a way to haul myself up. It was the borderline of my climbing abilities, but the risk was worth it: a chance to experience one of New York's oldest, most historic, and most mysterious Landmarks.

(more pictures I snapped can be found about halfway down Forgotten-NY's excellent High Bridge page here.

There's currently plans to open the bridge in a few years, and while I think it's a great and much-needed thing, I'm happy I got up there when I did. There's such a difference between between a place that has been refurbished for public consumption - in High Bridge's case it will probably be with new chain-link fencing that will obstruct the view - and ones that are in their natural state. Well, as "natural" as it gets in the Bronx.

I was ecstatic after climbing up on to the bridge (at least until later in the day when this happened). But there's always more that you don't know, that you haven't seen. Luckily, High Bridge wasn't done revealing her secrets to me.