Second section of NYC's High Line opens

[someone123]

I wish they kept it open later than 11:00.

[sciguy0504]

Allowing bikes on the High Line would ruin it, IMO. The paths aren't wide enough and there are too many path "changes" or obstacles.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by sciguy0504

Y
Allowing bikes on the High Line would ruin it, IMO. The paths aren't wide enough and there are too many path "changes" or obstacles.

Yeah, walking the high line, it would definitely be a bitch to ride a bike on it, especially when you hit those parts where the rail tracks are apart of the path, plus there is this weaving back and forth rather than a straight ride. Plus the bike route along the river isn't that far from this if you are trying to cover a long distance. Also it would be kind of annoying to stop and carry a bike up a large flight of stairs just to carry it back down a flight of stairs once riding the length of it.

[Hayward]

I thought I knew what I was expecting to see before I visited the highline. But seeing it in person. Wow, it's just incredible. The renderings had always seemed somewhat utopian to me. But people were using it as intended. Suntanning on the chairs, playing chess under the shade of the buildings above them....all while hundreds of people stroll by. This is my favorite urban park. I'm very jealous of NYC

[subterranean]

Simply fantastic, and it makes me excited for the possibilities of what cities can become. I hope the rust belt can take que from this and continue to leverage its industrial assets to create more livable/sustainable cities. Dequindre Cut in Detroit is a good example, too, but not the same idea. It's more of a non-motorized transit route and less a park.

[alex1]

I like things about the High Line. I like that it averted a ton of landfill waste. I like that it provides a new avenue of transportation through the west side of Manhattan. I like that it kept a vestige of the old Manhattan elevated line, I even like the architectural implementation of it. However, I couldn't stop thinking about the void I felt the second time I walked it, as if something was missing. I felt that I wasn't liking it enough and then I found out why.

While the High Line deserves much of the praise it gets, in the end it's just an elevated walkway. Not saying that's a bad thing, but I like the intimacy of the building walls being a few feet away from me. That's why I don't ever use the High Line, even though it would be a pragmatic transportation device for me.

[alex1]

Originally Posted by Hayward

I thought I knew what I was expecting to see before I visited the highline. But seeing it in person. Wow, it's just incredible. The renderings had always seemed somewhat utopian to me. But people were using it as intended. Suntanning on the chairs, playing chess under the shade of the buildings above them....all while hundreds of people stroll by. This is my favorite urban park. I'm very jealous of NYC

that's the thing about NYC. If you create a space for people, it'll be utilized to it's fullest potential.

[CGII]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

The ban on bikes would be a hindrance to me fully enjoying it.

To me that's like saying you wouldn't enjoy the Eiffel Tower because you can't bike it.

The High Line is a distinctly pedestrian experience; everything is scaled to the body and it wouldn't make sense to see it from a bike perspective.

[vid]

It doesn't look like cycling on it would be very safe for other pedestrians. I think a ban on bikes makes sense.

[M II A II R II K]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

The ban on bikes would be a hindrance to me fully enjoying it.

They should have had barriered off bikelanes. But I suppose you'd be able to rollerblade.

[M II A II R II K]

The Park Is Elevated. Its Crime Rate Is Anything But


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/11/ny...-not.html?_r=1

.....

The High Line park turned two years old this month, commemorating the occasion by doubling its length to about a mile, from Gansevoort Street to West 30th Street. Among the many facts and figures people keep track of in this much-studied park, essentially found space on a crowded island, are statistics that tell whether crime has found it, too, and the numbers are in.

Or more accurately, the number is in: zero. The police, the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation and the founders of the High Line all say there have been no reports of a major crime — assault, larceny, robbery, worse — since its opening.

“Are you disappointed?” Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly asked on Tuesday.

Certainly curious. Not a single stick-up? No fights? How many other mile-long sections of New York City are this safe? The questions come not long after someone opened fire Thursday on the Brighton Beach Boardwalk after what some witnesses described as a perceived dirty look toward gang members. Apples and oranges, yes — Crips have shown little interest in the High Line, and the drinking that is said to have fueled the Boardwalk shooting is forbidden there. But the tale of two walkways suggests that what the newer one is doing to curb crime is a combination of passive and active, design and deterrence.

It is strenuously policed. Parks Enforcement Patrol officers walk the High Line all day. They have written, as of Wednesday, 362 summonses for quality-of-life infractions, roughly one every other day. A vast majority were for drinking. Others were for dogs and bicycles, also forbidden. Officers and employees in the park, who are not permitted to be quoted by name, said the total could be quite higher. Most people get off with a warning.

.....

[MolsonExport]

National Geographic had a recent article on the High Line. Looks utterly fantastic. Will do for NYC what Cheonggyecheon did for Seoul.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheonggyecheon

[10023]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

They should have had barriered off bikelanes. But I suppose you'd be able to rollerblade.

It's not big enough or straight enough for bikes, and frankly the presence of bikes would ruin the pedestrian experience.

[599GTO]

Cyclists would ruin the High Line. I'd never visit if they were allowed.

They're already generally annoying when I'm driving in Manhattan and I couldn't imagine fighting for space with bicyclists on the narrow High Line.

[ametz]

Agreed. I think bikes should be accomodated just about anywhere, but HL is way too narrow. I also think it would lose some of it's idyllic, almost pastoral feel if it became a commuter path for bikes.

[subterranean]

Originally Posted by ametz

Agreed. I think bikes should be accomodated just about anywhere, but HL is way too narrow. I also think it would lose some of it's idyllic, almost pastoral feel if it became a commuter path for bikes.

Which is exactly how they'd use it, too.

[M II A II R II K]

I guess just stick to rollerblades then.

[Lecom]

Originally Posted by ametz

Agreed. I think bikes should be accomodated just about anywhere, but HL is way too narrow. I also think it would lose some of it's idyllic, almost pastoral feel if it became a commuter path for bikes.

Biking on the High Line wouldn't work, thankfully, even as a commuter bike path. Such bike commuters would much prefer to stay on the street level as opposed to pulling a bike several stories into the air and then back down, just to bike on a crowded yet traffic light-free stretch for several blocks.

Source: me, a regular bike commuter

[10023]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

I guess just stick to rollerblades then.

People still use rollerblades?

[Hayward]

Originally Posted by Lecom

Biking on the High Line wouldn't work, thankfully, even as a commuter bike path. Such bike commuters would much prefer to stay on the street level as opposed to pulling a bike several stories into the air and then back down, just to bike on a crowded yet traffic light-free stretch for several blocks.

Source: me, a regular bike commuter

Totally agree. I'm an everyday bike commuter as well. Even when I do it for just exercise, I rarely take in the surrounding for what they are. The Highline is about slowing things down, absorbing the sites around you, relaxing, and interacting with other people. Opening it as a cyclist freeway would totally ruin it.