The redevelopment of the High Line, the unused elevated rail line that runs on the West Side between Gansevoort and 34th Sts., received a $15.75 million budget commitment over the next three years, according to City Council Speaker Gifford Miller.
The first $750,000 was put into the current city budget in June and may be used immediately for planning the transformation of the 70-year-old structure into a 1.5-mile elevated park. The rest of the money will be allocated to the High Line over the next three years, Miller said.
The budget commitment was made just before Miller, Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff and City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden asked the federal Surface Transportation Board to approve the city’s request to use the federal rail-banking program’s rails-to-trails option for the High Line.
Miller made the announcement at Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall at the exhibition of contest proposals for the future of the structure that were submitted to Friends of the High Line, a group advocating preservation of the line.
“The High Line was built during the Depression to invigorate New York’s economy and it will help reinvigorate our city again,” Miller said. City Councilmember Christine Quinn and Community Board 4 also support preservation of the line that runs just west of 10th Ave.
