INNOVATIVE PUBLIC PARKS CONTINUED...

10th avenue in the Manhatten, New York City used to be known as Death Avenue.  That's because freight trains---Approved in 1847---ran people over so frequently that red flags was used as a warning.  In 1929, freight trains was elevated above 10th Avenue in Manhatten for reasons of safety.  And thus, 10th Avenue was called Death Avenue no more.  This elevated railroad was called the High Line and it was just a small section of the much larger West Side Line owned and operated by the New York Central Railroad.  And there was a section of the Western Electric Complex which had the High Line Railroad go right through it.

The two above photos depict Death Avenue.  The below photos show the High Line Railroad being built for the first time ever in 1929.

 

 

And it was fine as long as trucking didn't take away a large portion of the freight railroad business.  The southern section of the High Line Railroad for freight trains was demolished in 1960.  And carrying frozen turkeys, the rest of the High Line Railroad for freight trains was closed in 1980.  Normally, that would be the end of the story.  Just an abandoned railroad high above 10th Avenue collecting dust and functioning as a metalic eye sore for everybody in Manhatten.  Now there are big plans for the old High Line Railroad no longer used for freight trains.  It's now called High Line Public Park and it's for pedestrians.  Nature is reclaiming modern railroad transit.