High Bridge work to be finished by December

The car-free High Bridge, which spans the Harlem River and connects Washington Heights with Highbridge in the Bronx, is slated to reopen in December.

“We are exploring every opportunity to expedite the project,” Phil Abramson, spokesperson for the Department of Parks and Recreation, said in a statement provided to Streetsblog. “DDC and Parks are working closely with the contractor to finish the project as quickly as possible and we look forward to the day that New Yorkers will once again walk and bicycle over our city’s oldest bridge.”

The city broke ground on the $61 million restoration of the pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly bridge in January 2013, as previously reported. It was slated to be reopened this summer, but that timeline was pushed back due to bad weather. First opened in 1848 as part of the Old Croton Aqueduct, the bridge was closed for public use around 1970. Along with seven other regional parks, it is being transformed under PlaNYC, a collaboration between the Departments of Parks, Environmental Protection, Design and Construction and the Landmarks Preservation Commission. [Streetsblog] — Mark Maurer