The High Line project in New York is already partially completed. Why is the Bloomingdale Trail still in the planning stages?
Though both are multiuse paths, each project has a unique history, challenges and opportunities: • The Bloomingdale Trail first received public funding for design and planning in late 2007 — after twice being rejected for funding. The High Line has received significant private funding from celebrities and broke ground in 2006. • The Bloomingdale Trail still carried occasional freight traffic as recently as earlier this decade when service to remaining customers was rerouted through another railroad. The last train on the High Line was in the 1980s. • The Bloomingdale Trail will be 2.65 miles long while the High Line is only 1.45 miles long – if the last segment is secured. • The Bloomingdale Trail right-of-way is not in danger of imminent redevelopment for other uses, as the High Line had been. That is because the Bloomingdale lies mostly over city street rights-of-way, while much of the High Line is on easement over increasingly valuable land held by private owners.
