... and it's a colossal 1.25 mi (over 2 km) long!

I had the pleasure of going to see the grand opening of this incredible structure this past weekend with my singing group, Redhot & Blue, as we took a short trip away from our humble abodes at Yale University to Poughkeepsie, New York.  Poughkeepsie, in addition to being the hometown of a beloved "redhottie" (as we call ourselves), is an old industrial town on the fringes of New York City's metropolitan area.

As an industrial town in the information age, there are naturally several railroads running through that have fallen into disrepair over the last few decades.  One particular rail line that ran over the Hudson River caught the eyes of Poughkeepsie's citizens and, after years of planning, financing, and renovation, the decrepit rail has been converted into the wonderful public park that you see in the video below.  The grand opening happened on the quadracintenial anniversary of explorer Henry Hudson's sailing up the river and, as someone who was there, I just have to say that I think it's absolutely awesome that I can cross the widest river in New York without a car or boat.

Clips of the Festivites at the Grand Opening of the Bridge

The event highlights a trend that has been happening in the NYC metropolitan area over the last 5-10 years that fills me with hope and happiness: decaying industrial means of transportation are being reclaimed for use by pedestrians and cyclists.  Just look at what has happened in Manhattan this past summer: an old elevated rail line on the West side finished its converstion into the new Highline Park for pedestrians and cyclists thanks to some city funding. A bicycle path with extended pedestrian space was opend along the enitre length of Mid-town Broadway where, 100 years ago, New York's main streetcar line used to exist.

Now, I'm just dreaming here but what if we saw this happen to some of our car infrstructure over the next few decades.  Cars seem to be declining as a favorable means of getting around as we realize the damage they're causing to the global climate and the multiple benefits of cycling, walking, riding subways and metros, etc.  Also, a lot of New York City's suspension bridges are reaching the ends of their design lives and they will not be able to support cars and trucks soon.  So... we can scrap them... or we can turn them into pedestrian and cyclist routes.

I mean, the latter makes economic sense, at least.  The organization promoting the renovation of the bridge in Poughkeepsie brags about the estimated $14.6 million in new direct spending by visitors that the bridge will bring in but I don't know if they really understand the long-term benefits.  People want to live near this bridge.  There will be new developments around it once our economy is back on its feet and when I asked the locals if they thought people might commute to work over the bridge the answer was a confident, "Yes, I'm sure some people will."