Officials "break ground" for the Walkway Over the Hudson

HIGHLAND - Local, state, and federal officials took crowbars in hand and pulled railroad spikes out of the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge to symbolically start the transformation of the bridge into the Walkway Over the Hudson Park.

Congressman Maurice Hinchey and State Senator Steven Saland were among the officials who pried the first spikes out of the bridge Tuesday launching the renovation period for the 120-year-old structure.

The bridge was purchased by the Walkway group back in 1995 and group Chairman Fred Schaeffer called the effort over the last 16 years, and the lifting of the first spikes following the ceremony, “monumental.”

The bridge is slated for completion by August of next year, just in time for New York’s Quadricentennial Celebration of the voyages of Henry Hudson, Robert Fulton, and Samuel de Champlain. 

Along with the structure’s first major facelift since it was built in 1888, also came Scenic Hudson’s announcement that it would donate $1 million to the construction costs.

“Just as the transformation of the bridge into a walkway is beginning, so too is the fundraising effort to bring to bear the dollars that are necessary to complete the job,” said Scenic Hudson President Net Sullivan. “It is our hope at Scenic Hudson that our contribution will inspire others to step forward and make their contribution whether large or small, to bring into fruition this great legacy project of the 400th.”

That donation brings the total amount of funding to date to $14 million.

That amount includes nearly $8 million from the state Parks and Recreations Commission, $1.2 million from Senator Saland, nearly $1 million from Congressman Hinchey, and several other various sources.

Schaeffer said during a news conference at the site that the rest of the funding needed to complete the project, close to $9 million, will be from a fundraising campaign to kick off in the near future; he also said a future grant from the state in 2009 is currently being sought after.

Over 100 residents and other local officials attended the ceremony, which was held at the Town of Lloyd entrance to the bridge in Ulster County.

Scenic Hudson President Ned Sullivan, State Parks and Recreation Commissioner Carol Ash, Dyson Foundation President Robert Dyson, and New York State Bridge Authority Chairman James Sproat were also at the event.