The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo has announced that he will propose a 1,200-foot elevated pathway, an expansion of the High Line, to the new Penn Station development, a US$60 million project that will be financed by both public and private funds. The pathway that will cross from High Line, an elevated park that stretches for nearly a mile and a half through the West Side of Lower Manhattan and has been a symbol of ambitious urban renewal drew near eight million people pre-pandemic in 2019. The project will cross to the newly opened Moynihan Train Hall, a project that the governor said helped “spur development in the surrounding neighborhoods and boost an economy facing a deep crisis because of the pandemic.”
The new pathway link, according to officials, will provide an alternative way to access the new station, which serves Amtrak and the Long Island Railroad. It’s part of a broader package, including the new train hall and improvements sought for Pennsylvania Station, that seeks to improve the experience of taking mass transportation into and out of New York City. The project is part of an effort to reduce the traffic that according to Mr. Cuomo has reached “impossible levels and has never been efficient or effective.”
The Moynihan station, which opened at the beginning of the month is a $1.6 billion building complete with over an acre of glass skylights, art installations, and 92-foot-high ceilings is just one in a series of ambitious infrastructure projects, including the Second Avenue Subway along the Upper East Side of Manhattan and a rebuilt La Guardia Airport, that the governor is seeking to make a prominent part of his legacy. The project however has received criticism as some have stated that the High Line is an amenity that is little used by low-income residents and people of color hence is not necessarily useful at the moment
