Raya Brass Band had the honor of leading eager folks onto the recently completed Walkway Over the Hudson on opening day on October 3, 2009. This amazing old railway bridge is now the the world’s longest pedestrian bridge and definitely worth a visit next time you’re upstate.
Fast Facts About the Walkway from Walkway Over the Hudson website:
- At 6,767 feet (or 1.28 miles) the Walkway Over the Hudson is the world’s longest pedestrian bridge.
- The Walkway soars 212 feet above the Hudson River.
- Trains first began steaming across the former Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge on Jan. 1, 1889. At the time it was the longest bridge in the world.
- The bridge is an historic landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
- The core construction project, which transformed the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge into the Walkway Over the Hudson, cost $38.8 million and took 16 months to complete.
- The Walkway’s 1.28-mile long deck is comprised of 973 prefabricated concrete panels, each weighing up to 15 tons.
- Harrison & Burrowes Bridge Constructors Inc. of Glennville, NY served as the general contractor for the project while design and engineering was overseen by Bergmann Associates of Rochester, NY.
- The Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park opened on Oct. 3, 2009.
- The park is managed by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation.
- In the first three months after it opened, more than 400,000 people visited the park, dramatically exceeding original visitation projections.
