Wisconsin varsity rowing team at 1914 Poughkeepsie regatta

The Walkway over the Hudson (also known as the Poughkeepsie Bridge, Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge, Poughkeepsie–Highland Railroad Bridge, and High Bridge) is a steel

cantilever bridge A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end (called cantilevers). For small footbridges, the cantilevers may be simple beams; however, large cantilever bridges designed ...

spanning the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

between

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsi ...

, on the east bank and Highland, New York, on the west bank. Built as a double track

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

bridge, it was completed on January 1, 1889, and formed part of the Maybrook Railroad Line of the New Haven Railroad. It was taken out of service on May 8, 1974, after it was damaged by fire. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1979, and its entry updated in 2008. The bridge was designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

in 2009. It was reopened on October 3, 2009, as a pedestrian walkway as part of the new Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park. The New York State Bridge Authority owns and is charged with maintaining the bridge structure (as directed by the Governor and Legislature in July, 2010). The park is operated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. In 2017, the walkway hosted 593,868 visitors. The park connects the

Hudson Valley Rail Trail The Hudson Valley Rail Trail is a paved east–west rail trail in the town of Lloyd in Ulster County, New York, stretching from the Hudson River through the hamlet of Highland. The trail was originally part of the Poughkeepsie Bridge Route, a ...

in Highland to the Dutchess Rail Trail, and forms part of the Empire State Trail. At a length of , it is the world's second-longest pedestrian

footbridge A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...

at 1.28 miles long. It held the title as the longest footbridge from its opening until fall 2016, when it was surpassed by the Mile Into the Wild Walkway at 1.51 miles in length.

History

Construction

In 1868, an engineer proposed a railroad bridge across the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie, in a letter published in the '' Poughkeepsie Eagle'' newspaper. The proposal seemed so absurd that the ''Eagle'' ridiculed it, and it was effectively forgotten for a few years. Over the years, many plans had been made for a fixed span across the

south of Albany to replace numerous

car float A railroad car float or rail barge is a specialised form of lighter with railway tracks mounted on its deck used to move rolling stock across water obstacles, or to locations they could not otherwise go. An unpowered barge, it is towed by a t ...

and ferry operations. One of the most persistent was originally chartered in 1868 as the Hudson Highland Suspension Bridge Company, whose proposed bridge would have crossed from Anthony's Nose to

Fort Clinton Fort Clinton was an American Revolutionary War fort erected by the Continental Army on the west bank of the Hudson River in 1776. Protecting the chain It was one of a pair of fortifications which straddled the confluence of Popolopen Creek, st ...

, now roughly the site of the

Bear Mountain Bridge The Bear Mountain Bridge, ceremonially named the Purple Heart Veterans Memorial Bridge, is a toll suspension bridge in New York State. It carries US 6 and US 202 across the Hudson River between Bear Mountain State Park in Orange Co ...

. It was never built. The

State of New York New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state ...

chartered the Poughkeepsie Bridge Company in 1872 with the support of Harvey G. Eastman, Mayor of Poughkeepsie and a member of the New York State Assembly. Eastman had met

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

, principal owner of the Keystone Bridge Company of Pittsburgh and previously a manager at the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). J. Edgar Thomson, President of the PRR, was persuaded to provide financial support, and Keystone became the contractor for the initial attempt to build a bridge at Poughkeepsie. Keystone prepared a four pier bridge design, but the

Panic of 1873 The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the ...

killed financial support for project. In 1875 Eastman and his colleagues made a second attempt at a bridge project, developing an agreement with the American Bridge Company of Chicago (founded 1870). American Bridge developed a plan and confronted the challenge of building the support piers in deep water. Pier construction began in 1876, but the contractors encountered the failure of a pier foundation and related construction difficulties in 1877. By early 1878 the company was bankrupt, and Eastman died later that year. It took several more years to find new investors for the project. In 1886, the Manhattan Bridge Building Company was organized to finance the construction. Among the prominent backers was

Henry Clay Frick Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 – December 2, 1919) was an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. He founded the H. C. Frick & Company coke manufacturing company, was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company, and played a maj ...

, the coal tycoon and associate of Carnegie. The Union Bridge Company of Athens, Pennsylvania, which had completed the

Michigan Central The Michigan Central Railroad (reporting mark MC) was originally incorporated in 1846 to establish rail service between Detroit, Michigan, and St. Joseph, Michigan. The railroad later operated in the states of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois in ...

cantilever bridge at Niagara (see

Niagara Cantilever Bridge The Niagara Cantilever Bridge or Michigan Central Railway Cantilever Bridge was a cantilever bridge across the Niagara Gorge. An international railway-only bridge between Canada and the United States, it connected Niagara Falls, New York, and Nia ...

), was subcontracted to build the Poughkeepsie Bridge. Dawson, Symmes and Usher were the foundation engineers, while John F. O'Rourke, P. P. Dickinson and Arthur B. Paine were the structural engineers. The bridge was designed by Charles Macdonald and Arthur B. Paine. As is typical for cantilever bridges, construction was carried out by constructing cribwork, masonry piers, towers, fixed truss sections on falsework, and finally cantilever sections, with the final cantilever interconnection (suspended) spans floated out or raised with

falsework Falsework consists of temporary structures used in construction to support a permanent structure until its construction is sufficiently advanced to support itself. For arches, this is specifically called centering. Falsework includes temporary s ...

. The first train crossed the bridge on December 29, 1888, and it was formally opened for scheduled passenger service on January 1, 1889. Considered an engineering marvel of the day, the bridge has seven main spans. The total length is , including approaches, and the top of the deck is above water. It is a multispan cantilever truss bridge, having two river-crossing cantilever spans of each, one center span of , two anchor (connecting) spans of , two shore spans of each, a approach viaduct on the eastern bank and a approach viaduct on the western bank. All seven spans were built of newly available

Bessemer process The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron before the development of the open hearth furnace. The key principle is removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation ...

"mild" (between 0.16% and 0.29% carbon) steel, while the two approach viaducts were built of iron. It formed part of the most direct rail route between the industrial northeastern states and the midwestern and western states.

Operation

The bridge was the only fixed

crossing between Albany and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

until the construction of the Bear Mountain (road) Bridge in 1924, and was advertised as a way to avoid New York City car floats and railroad passenger ferries. Ownership of the bridge passed through several railroads including the

Central New England Railway The Central New England Railway was a railroad from Hartford, Connecticut, and Springfield, Massachusetts, west across northern Connecticut and across the Hudson River on the Poughkeepsie Bridge to Maybrook, New York. It was part of the Poughkee ...

(CNE), New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (NH),

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...

(PC) and Conrail. Poughkeepsie Bridge 115997

A strengthening of the bridge was completed in 1907 to handle heavier freight trains by

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

Ralph Modjeski Ralph Modjeski (born Rudolf Modrzejewski; January 27, 1861 – June 26, 1940) was a Polish-American civil engineer who achieved prominence as "America's greatest bridge builder." Life He was born in Bochnia, called Galicia at the time, on Janu ...

, of the famed bridge civil engineering firm Modjeski and Masters, who added a third line of trusses down the middle, a central girder, and interleaved columns. In 1917–18, the double tracks on the bridge were converted to

gauntlet track Gauntlet track or interlaced track (also gantlet track) is an arrangement in which railway tracks run parallel on a single track bed and are interlaced (i.e., overlapped) in such a way that only one pair of rails can be used at any time. Since th ...

operation to center the weight of heavier New Haven Railroad

2-10-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels, ten powered and coupled driving wheels, and two trailing wheels. In the United States of America and elsewhere the is ...

steam locomotives. Even so, trains were restricted to 12 miles per hour. In 1959, the gauntlet tracks were replaced by a centered single track. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the bridge was a vital link for war freight traffic, guarded around the clock by

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

soldiers. At its peak, nearly 3,500 train cars crossed over the Hudson on a daily basis.

Decline

Traffic across the bridge began a slow decline in the 1950s as industry shrank in New England and with it the need for the raw materials railroads excelled at transporting. Traffic from the connecting New York, Ontario & Western ceased when that railroad shut down on March 30, 1957. Another connection, the coal-, slate-, and cement-hauling Lehigh & New England, shut down in 1961. At the same time, some new traffic began crossing the bridge, such as the New Haven's "Super Jet", one of the first trains to carry truck trailers. The

's acquisition of the

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

in 1969 discouraged connecting traffic with the

Erie Lackawanna The Erie Lackawanna Railway , known as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad until 1968, was formed from the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. The official motto of the line was "The Friendly Service Route" ...

, which competed with other Penn Central routes. After 1971, only one through train in each direction, for

, crossed the bridge. While the Penn Central did not connect with the old New Haven on the west side of the bridge, it came close. For a short time in 1969 and 1970, Penn Central ran a daily train between Cedar Hill Yard in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

and

Potomac Yard Potomac Yard is a neighborhood in Northern Virginia that straddles southeastern Arlington County and northeastern Alexandria, Virginia, located principally in the area between U.S. Route 1 and the Washington Metro Blue Line / Yellow Line trac ...

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...

, by way of the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway, which connected with the

Belvidere Division in

Belvidere, New Jersey Belvidere is a town in Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the town's population was 2,681,Maybrook Yard in

Maybrook, New York Maybrook is a village in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 3,150 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie– Newburgh– Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York– ...

. The service ended in a dispute over haulage charges and the traffic was diverted to the longer all-Penn Central route through Selkirk, New York. Ironically, the only reason the Lehigh and Hudson River was not part of the Penn Central was because a Penn Central predecessor, the Pennsylvania Railroad, had prevented the New Haven from acquiring it in 1905. The Lehigh and Hudson River and Erie Lackawanna were finally joined with the Penn Central when all were taken over by Conrail in 1976. On May 8, 1974, a tie fire damaged about of decking and underlying girders on the bridge's eastern section. It was likely started by a spark from an eastbound Penn Central freight train that had just crossed the span. The Penn Central had neglected the bridge's fire-protection system, which had no water on the day of the fire, and had laid off employees who kept watch for such fires. A photograph of the last train, a run-through from the

, was included in a 40th anniversary web feature by the

Poughkeepsie Journal The ''Poughkeepsie Journal'' is a newspaper based in Poughkeepsie, New York, and owned by Gannett, which bought the paper in 1977. Founded in 1785 (though not a daily newspaper until 1860), the ''Journal'' is the oldest paper in New York state, a ...

. In August 1974, the Penn Central applied for $1.75 million to repair and improve the bridge from the federal government through the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973. By 1975, efforts had shifted to acquiring a combination of state and railroad funding. In November 1975, a formal agreement between the New York State Department of Transportation and the trustees of the Penn Central was approved, allowing the $359,000 insurance payout for the bridge to be spent on repairs, with the state paying the rest. In December, U.S. Representative Benjamin A. Gilman announced that $486,000 appropriated by the state legislature for repairs was undergoing final review by the state. Authorization for the state to spend its share on bridge repairs had still not been given when, on April 1, 1976, ownership of the bridge changed with the inception of Conrail. Having been forced to include the route over the bridge (the Maybrook Line) in its new system at the behest of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

Senator

Abraham Ribicoff Abraham Alexander Ribicoff (April 9, 1910 – February 22, 1998) was an American Democratic Party politician from the state of Connecticut. He represented Connecticut in the United States House of Representatives and Senate and was the 80th ...

, Conrail announced that it would not promise to repair and use the bridge despite a Connecticut foundation's offer to pay half the repair cost if the bridge were used again. The railroad further said that other work required to make the entire Maybrook route usable would raise the reactivation cost to $45.8 million.''

'' news stories. Seven years passed; pieces of the bridge's eastern approach viaduct over Poughkeepsie began falling onto U.S. Route 9 below, damaging passing vehicles. In response, the city sued Conrail and forced it to spend $300,000 in 1983 to remove the decking over the superstructure. Conrail then sought to dispose of the unused bridge and eventually abandoned and tore up the Maybrook Line between Hopewell Junction and

in 1983–1984.

Railway Management Associates (1984–1998)

Conrail made initial plans to sell the bridge to bridge enthusiast and lawyer Donald L. Pevsner, by an option granted to him on February 1, 1984.''Poughkeepsie Journal'' news stories (1984). Conrail and Central Hudson Gas and Electric were involved with negotiations regarding Central Hudson's two electrical circuits traversing the bridge. The

New York State Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

endorsed an agreement in September 1984 whereby Conrail would make every attempt to obtain the permits by May 1985 to demolish the bridge, and Central Hudson would make every attempt to find an alternative route for its circuits by May 1985. Conrail knew that there was lead paint on the bridge, permits for demolition might be difficult to obtain, and demolition costs would be high. Later in 1984, Conrail advised Pevsner to take title of the bridge in a shell corporation, with no assets but the bridge and no funds to pay for necessary insurance and maintenance: the railroad just wanted to be rid of the bridge, whatever the ethics of such disposal. This decision was made personally by then-Conrail Chairman L. Stanley Crane, at a time when Conrail was owned by the U.S. government. Pevsner refused, and let his option expire on November 1, 1984. One day later, on November 2, 1984, Conrail sold the bridge for $1 to a group of investors from St. Davids, Pennsylvania called ''Railway Management Associates'' to "get it off the books". The only known member of this investor group was a convicted bank swindler and ex-felon named Gordon Schreiber Miller. For less than a year, Miller collected $10,000 in monthly rent paid by Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation for its two 115,000-volt and 69,000-volt circuits representing six power cables across the Hudson, attached to the south side of the bridge since 1949. Central Hudson de-energized those power lines and relocated them under the river by early 1985, thereby ending Miller's only source of bridge income. For the next fourteen years, Miller and his successor, Vito Moreno, spent little to nothing on maintenance or insurance; critical bridge navigation lights were mostly inoperative, resulting in large U.S. Coast Guard fines against the Miller corporation that all went unpaid. Further, all of the 2,200-pound brackets that connected Central Hudson's de-energized high-tension power lines to the south side of the bridge continued to deteriorate by rusting. Though Central Hudson admitted that it normally had a legal duty to remove its abandoned power lines, it refused to remove its abandoned bridge-affixed lines, instead relying on a claim that it no longer owned the lines at issue pursuant to prior litigation with Conrail that was decided on September 26, 1984, and won a similar legal opinion before the New York State Public Service Commission in 1995, which was left to stand on April 1, 1999 when The Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge Company, Inc., as the successor owner to Gordon Schreiber Miller and Vito Moreno, withdrew its 1998 complaint against Central Hudson on January 27, 1999.

Restoration

On June 4, 1998, following the long nonpayment of Dutchess and

Ulster County Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster. History ...

taxes on the bridge by prior owners Gordon Schreiber Miller and his successor, Vito Moreno, Moreno deeded the bridge to a nonprofit volunteer organization called Walkway Over the Hudson, which took title through its nonprofit New York corporation, the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge Company, Inc., hoping to turn it into a pedestrian and cyclist walkway. The deed was recorded in both counties on June 5, 1998. The former Central Hudson power lines were finally removed in 2009, as part of Walkway construction. On December 21, 2010, the Walkway corporation conveyed the entire structure to the New York State Bridge Authority, which restored high-limit liability insurance and "deep-pocket" maintenance assurance for the first time since November 2, 1984. On September 5, 2009, conversion work and repairs to the structural steel and the laying of concrete slabs for the walkway were completed. The volunteer head of "Walkway", as it is known locally, said in 2008, "We think people will come from all over. It's the equivalent of the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed "' ...

, or the Golden Gate Bridge." The project initially received support from local residents, city and state officials totaling about $1,000,000, plus forgiveness of $550,000 in taxes inherited from the previous owners. Walkway then solicited funding from both the State and Federal governments for historic preservation, and from private philanthropic organizations. Funding sources as of January 13, 2016, include: * The Dyson Foundation, which has donated almost $20 million, including guaranteeing $8.1 million in loans that were made by Ulster Savings Bank and M&T Bank to complete the project in 2009 (now paid-off), plus $2.3 million to build the elevator that was completed in 2014. * New York State funding, from various entities, totals about $22.5 million. * Federal government funding, from various entities, totals about $3.5 million. * Scenic Hudson, Inc., which has donated $1 million. * The Jane W. Nuhn Charitable Trust has donated $500,000. * The M&T Charitable Foundation has donated between $50,000 and $100,000. * Amy P. Goldman and Sarah Arno have donated between $100,000 and $250,000. The total budget as of October 2009 totaled about $38.8 million. The Walkway Group raised a total of $30.7 million as of October 23, 2009. The $8.1 million deficit was financed by lines of credit from

Ulster Savings Bank Ulster Savings Bank is a mutual savings bank headquartered in Kingston, New York. The bank has 15 branches, all of which are in Ulster County, Orange County, or Dutchess County. History The bank was founded on April 12, 1851. Archibald Russ ...

($4 million) and

M&T Bank M&T Bank Corporation (Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company) is an American bank holding company headquartered in Buffalo, New York. It operates 1680 branches in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts ...

($4.1 million) that were drawn-upon to complete the project in 2009. These lines of credit were converted to loans, with an additional $2.3 million allocated to 2014 elevator construction, and were guaranteed and paid-off by The Dyson Foundation (see above). The project was separated into four phases, with the first two completed as of October 2009: * Phase 1 – attain ownership of the bridge. * Phase 2 – structural analysis of the bridge and creation of a comprehensive plan, including budget and timeline for completion. The group also had to find funding for the project and secure funding for the start of construction. * Phase 3 – construct and open the first of the walkway on the Ulster side. The Dutchess side will get an elevator and of walkway. This phase was complete on October 3, 2009 (the grand-opening date), excepting a $2.3 million elevator installation in Poughkeepsie that was completed during the summer of 2014. * Phase 4 – construct and open the remaining of the walkway and its resultant connections to the

in Highland and the Dutchess Rail Trail in Poughkeepsie. The walkway was completed on September 5, 2009, and opened to the public on October 3, 2009. The Hudson Valley Rail Trail connection was finished in the autumn of 2010. The Dutchess Rail Trail connection has also been completed. The piers were inspected in 2008 and given a clean bill of health. Similarly, Bergmann Associates, P.C. (of

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

and

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...

), project engineers and managers, has stated in writing that the wind loads were carefully examined for the replacement, solid-concrete Walkway decking, and that this item is not a safety problem. The decking work was completed on September 5, 2009. Walkway opened the bridge to the public on October 3, 2009, in time for the quadricentennial celebration of

Henry Hudson Henry Hudson ( 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States. In 1607 and 16 ...

sailing up the

, and that day handed it over to the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation for management. Despite this, inevitable comparisons have been drawn to the similar

Kinzua Bridge The Kinzua Bridge or the Kinzua Viaduct (, ) was a railroad trestle that spanned Kinzua Creek in McKean County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The bridge was tall and long. Most of its structure collapsed during a tornado in July 2003. Bi ...

, in northwestern Pennsylvania, which blew over in a microburst tornado when the bolts connecting the steel framework to the piers failed. Ironically, renovation work was going on to strengthen the corroded areas when the tornado destroyed most of this former Erie Railroad viaduct. During

Hurricane Irene Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth named storm, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 2011 ...

, residents living within 500 feet of the Poughkeepsie Bridge were evacuated as a precaution, and emergency repairs to reduce bridge sway (by the addition of new steel X-braces, supplanting the original turnbuckle-adjusted tension rods) were hurriedly installed. The bridge became a National Recreation Trail in 2009.

Walkway over the Hudson State Historic Park

The opening ceremony of the Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park was held on October 3, 2009, as part of wider NY400 celebrations, featured music by

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...

, and was attended by Governor

David Paterson David Alexander Paterson (born May 20, 1954) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 55th governor of New York, succeeding Eliot Spitzer and serving out nearly three years of Spitzer's term from March 2008 to December 2010. ...

, Senator

Chuck Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, an ...

, Congressman Maurice Hinchey, president of nearby

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...

Catharine Bond Hill, John May, engineer of the last train across the bridge, and other officials. Paterson said, "This bridge is now the longest footbridge in the world." The walkway immediately saw many more visitors than the expected 267,000 per year. In its first three months, it saw about 415,000 people. The walkway is operated as part of the New York State Historic Park System, open from 7:00 a.m. to dusk. Limited, wheelchair-friendly parking is available on either end of the bridge: * East end: 61 Parker Avenue, city of Poughkeepsie; charges $5 fee to park * West end: 87 Haviland Road, Highland There are restrooms located at the ends of the walkway, although at the time of a 2008 engineering survey of the bridge, there was "not a johnny on the spot." Pets are permitted, but owners should bring equipment to clean up. Bicycles and roller blades (but not skateboards) are permitted, and the walkway is flat and relatively wheelchair-friendly. The walkway connects with the Dutchess Rail Trail on the Poughkeepsie side and the

on the Highland side. The Dutchess Rail Trail additionally connects with the

Maybrook Trailway Maybrook is a village in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 3,150 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie– Newburgh– Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York– ...

in Hopewell Junction, making it part of a 40-mile continuous trail stretching from the village of Brewster to the village of

New Paltz New Paltz () is an incorporated U.S. town in Ulster County, New York. The population was 14,003 at the 2010 U.S. Census. The town is located in the southeastern part of the county and is south of Kingston. New Paltz contains a village, also wit ...

. All of these trails are part of the Empire State Trail.

New additions

On May 22, 2013, the Walkway Over the Hudson organization opened a new east pavilion, built entirely through donations of money and services. The pavilion will be occupied by the volunteers who serve as walkway ambassadors who greet and offer assistance to visitors. In October 2013, a "mobile web tour" was introduced, consisting of

QR code A QR code (an initialism for quick response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) invented in 1994 by the Japanese company Denso Wave. A barcode is a machine-readable optical label that can contain information about th ...

s at locations on the walkway which link to Web content related to the spot. In summer 2014, an elevator connecting Upper Landing Park to the walkway was opened. This allows visitors to reach the center of the span via a more direct route. It also connects the walkway to the Poughkeepsie waterfront area, which is near the railroad station, Mid-Hudson Children's Museum, and Waryas Park. On June 29, 2018, the $5.4 million, 3,500-square-foot Ulster Welcome Center at the western gateway officially opened. The facility has a plaza and amphitheater, 1,400 square foot covered patio and concession stand and public restrooms. On June 20, 2019, the $3 million Dutchess Welcome Center at the eastern end of the park was dedicated and opened to the public. The 1,800 square-foot facility features restrooms, bike racks, tourist information, an outdoor patio with benches and a water fountain for dogs. Dual entrances are off Washington Street and Orchard Place. A new glassed-in elevator, opened on June 20, 2019, that takes visitors to the Walkway from Upper Landing Park has been rebuilt with new "energy chain" technology which will make operations more reliable. On October 25, 2021, Governor

Kathy Hochul Kathleen Hochul ( ; née Courtney; born August 27, 1958) is an American politician serving as the 57th governor of New York since August 24, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she is New York's first female governor, as well as the first ...

dedicated the new East Gate Plaza for the Walkway Over The Hudson. The location, outside the Poughkeepsie entrance, doubled the gathering space on top of the Washington Street stairs. The space is suitable for community and other events. The project cost $2 million and was funded through State Parks Capital Funds, the Environmental Protection Fund and support from the Friends of the Walkway.

Events and incidents

The first footrace on the walkway occurred the day after the official opening on October 4, 2009. The 5k race started on the Highland side, crossed to the Poughkeepsie side and turned around at the parking lot and finished back in Highland. The race was won by James Boeding in a time of 16:26. The female winner was Kira DeCaprio in 20:12. There were 660 recorded finishers of the race. The 5K race, called "Treetops to Rooftops," has become an annual event, organized by the Mid-Hudson Road Runners Club. The inaugural Walkway Marathon was held on June 13, 2015, with full and half marathons and a 5K run. A new addition in 2016 was the Think Differently Dash, a one-mile race for people with physical and developmental disabilities. On May 15, 2010, LEDs were turned on for the first time, designed to allow nighttime use of the bridge, though due to funding limitations this is expected to only be used on special occasions. Some 3,000 people paid $5 apiece to attend the sold-out ceremony. Crowd management presented a problem, prompting criticism and an apology from walkway organizational leaders, but ultimately no incident or injury. On February 20, 2011, Don Kampfer, a

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veteran, died of a heart attack he suffered while participating in a monthly ceremony to retire and replace the

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on the walkway. Kampfer is the second person to die on the walkway, the other also being from a heart attack while walking over the bridge. On July 27, 2011, an

man in his late 20s jumped from the bridge after it had closed to the public in the evening. His entry to the bridge set off an alarm, bringing the police, who discovered only his belongings; a suicide note was found later at his home. The man's body was recovered from the river two days later. Though typically closed at sunset each day, the walkway often has events after sundown. Some of these openings (such as for Independence Day and in December) include fireworks displays. In July 2012, in a photograph taken from the walkway, an amateur photographer captured what the New York Daily News described as a "breathtaking juxtaposition" capturing fireworks and a bolt of lightning in the same image. Some of the nighttime events have featured members of the Mid-Hudson Astronomical Association, who have provided telescopes for public viewing of the moon, stars, and planets from the walkway, along with lectures by local astronomer Bob Berman. On January 21, 2017, a march was held there as part of the worldwide

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the day after the inauguration of

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

as president, drawing an estimated 5,000 participants, extending the entire length of the walkway.

References

External links

Walkway Over the Hudson organizationNew York State Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park
*Background information

1871 Bridge Prospectus
The Poughkeepsie Bridge — From Beginning to End
, Catskill Archive
Project Write: Documenting the Walkway (documentary video)

Poughkeepsie Journal interactive feature on history of railroad bridge and its 1974 fire
*Illustrations and images **

History section, has pictures of falsework and cantilever cranes. *Preservation efforts and historic register information
Bridgeweb.com article on historic cantilevers and preservation efforts

1978 Announcement {{authority control Railroad bridges in New York (state) Bridges over the Hudson River Cantilever bridges in the United States Truss bridges in the United States Railroad bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Poughkeepsie, New York Bridges in Ulster County, New York Bridges completed in 1889 Historic American Engineering Record in New York (state) Rail trails in New York (state) Rail trail bridges in the United States Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks State parks of New York (state) Parks in Ulster County, New York Pedestrian bridges in New York (state) Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area Former railway bridges in the United States Tourist attractions in Poughkeepsie, New York 1889 establishments in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Poughkeepsie, New York Viaducts in the United States Steel bridges in the United States New York State Bridge Authority