The High Line, the Moynihan Connector, consists of two pedestrian bridges spanning New York City’s Dyer Avenue and West 30th.th Street, which consists of a 183 m (600 ft) elevated linear plaza that provides a seamless pedestrian route from Midtown West to the elevated public path, the High Line.
A joint effort of Empire State Development, Brookfield Properties and Friends of the High Line, the project embodies a long-standing vision to improve pedestrian access, enhance transit connectivity and seamlessly link public open spaces and community assets of the neighborhood This project marks the latest chapter in the decade-long transformation of Midtown West in New York City’s Manhattan district, which includes the redevelopment of Pennsylvania Station (Penn Station), the adaptive reuse of the Farley Building in Moynihan Train Hall with offices above, the 650,321-m2 (7 million square meters) mixed-use building Manhattan West and Hudson Yards.
Together, these developments have transformed the neighborhood into a thriving mixed-use destination, interconnected by a series of civic spaces that will now be linked to the renowned High Line, one of the city’s most important public spaces and pedestrian thoroughfares from New York.
The innovative connector design has been designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and James Corner Field Operations (Field Operations). Leaving Moynihan Train Hall, visitors and commuters cross Ninth Avenue and enter Manhattan West, which includes a 1.0 ha (2.6 acre) public plaza leading to the Timber Bridge. This spectacular truss structure stretches along Dyer Avenue and offers a welcoming space sheltered from traffic and emerging from the Lincoln Tunnel.
The Timber Bridge, a 79.2 m (260 ft) long Warren truss made of sustainable timber (Alaskan yellow cedar), requires minimal ground connections: it is supported by two Y-columns of Corten steel, preserving the existing roads and using renewable energy. materials.
The wooden bridge connects to the back road, the Woodland Bridge, which runs diagonally along 30th Street, full of trees that create an immersive High Line landscape. The structure supports large trees, characteristic of an eastern deciduous forest, fostering a lush environment for native birds and pollinators, providing shade and protecting pedestrians from the traffic below.
Architecturally exposed weathering steel columns and angled support arms support this bridge, which vary dynamically to reflect the varying ground depths along the diagonal path. The two bridges feature different architectural and structural expressions, adapting to the site and context, while coming together through a warm material palette of Corten steel decks and bronze handrails, which guide pedestrians between structures
The Woodland Bridge plantings run from top to bottom, giving visitors a diverse experience as they move from east to west and vice versa. This dynamic landscape allows pedestrians to admire the wooden structure that rises above the diagonal path, visually linking with the trees of Magnolia Court in Manhattan West Plaza, creating a unique sense of place and guiding pedestrians to their destinations in both sides of the Moynihan Train Hall connector. .
Other project collaborators are the following:
Tillotson Design Associates, lighting; structural engineer, Thornton Tomasetti; Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) and Civil Engineer, WSP; Traffic/Mobility Engineer, Buro Happold; and design-build contractor Turner Construction.
