Historic High Bridge to re-open.

The city has finally given the green light to reopen the landmarked High Bridge--the legendary granite arched bridge built as part of the Croton Aqueduct system at the turn of the century--following a detailed feasibility study.

Though bridge supporters are a long way from reaching the $60 million needed to complete restoration, the roughly $12 million dollars drummed since the announcement has helped them believe that the five-year waiting game they have played for the go-ahead is finally over.

"We are tremendously excited," said Jason Shwartz, Director of partnerships for the New York City Parks and Recreation department and a member of the High Bridge Catalyst Project, a conglomerate of over 80 community groups who joined to champion the bridge.

"This is the kind of project that comes by once in a lifetime. Being able to physically connect the two communities in the Bronx and Manhattan would be a tremendous achievement, and we are going to keep pushing the project forward."

The bridge swooping one hundred feet over the Harlem River will link parks in High Bridge and Washington Heights as part of a link in the massive greenbelt system starting to snake across the city. It will allow pedestrians to literally walk across Manhattan to get to South Bronx hot spots, such as Yankee stadium, without choking on carbon monoxide, as access will be restricted to pedestrians and cyclists, building on the tradition of the 117 foot tall structure that that has never been open to vehicles.

The next phase of restoration will be to draw up plans for completing the work detailed in the study. Construction should begin in the next two to four years, according to Ellen Macnow, coordinator of interagency planning for the parks department.

The High Bridge was created as part of the Croton Aqueduct in 1839, with pipes built into its 15 circular masonry arches and beneath the walkway to allow fresh water originally coming from the Croton River in upstate New York to pass through the bridge.

Gate chambers were installed on the two ends of the bridge to regulate the flow. The bridge is part of an entire system modeled after Roman aqueducts which utilized gravity to help water flow naturally downwards as it would from the mountains.

The mammoth bridge was the first of its kind in the United States. Its grand scale, which stretched 1,200 s/f from end to end, was intended to celebrate the remarkable achievement of the Croton Aqueduct system, which brought clean water to a burgeoning city where people had been dying of water-borne diseases such as pestilence, and fires had run rampant.

The High Bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has landmark status. Though water service stopped flowing through the bridge in 1958, pedestrians still traveled on the bridge until 1970 when it was officially shut down.

Some work is going to be needed to restore the 158-year-old bridge to its former grandeur while updating it to meet current safety standards. Granite masonry arches flanking the Bronx side of the bridge need to be repointed and patched. The single steel arch stretching 150 feet across the Manhattan side of the bridge needs to be rust-proofed and fortified to meet current earthquake standards.

The rail needs to be reconfigured and a handicapped accessible ramp built on the platform. Advocates draw their momentum to restore the bridge from the wells of the past.

"At the time the bridge was built, it was something out of the ordinary. The High Bridge still has that appearance and feeling. You know that old saying, they don't build them like they used to.

"In this case, that's really true." Macnow said.