Fort Washington Pedestrian Bridge Reopens, City Says

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — A pedestrian and bike bridge that connects Fort Washington Park in Washington Heights to the Hudson River Greenway has been reopened months after it was closed for a security inspection, city officials announced this week.

The Fort Washington Pedestrian Bridge — which provides safe passage over the Amtrak tracks on West 180th Street and the Hudson River Greenway — reopened on Thursday after a month of repairs, the city Department of Transportation announced in a tweet. The bridge had been closed since late August due to security concerns.

City officials announced an expedited repair schedule in September due to pressure from the publication Streetsblog and Upper Manhattan cyclists. While the bridge was closed, cyclists were forced to endure a long detour to access the Hudson River Greenway, which is the nation's busies bike path, Streetsblog reported.

Despite opening the bridge ahead of schedule, the city has managed to irk bicyclists by posting a sign instructing cyclists to dismount on the bridge, Streetsblog reported. A Parks Department spokesperson tweeted that the sign was installed due to the bridge's reduced width.

The Parks Department is currently in the "procurement" phase of a $5.7 million project to reconstruct the Fort Washington Pedestrian Bridge. The design phase of the project launched in 2009 and was just recently completed in July, despite a targeted 2015 completion date, according to the Parks Department. The average procurement phase is completed in 9 months and is followed by construction, which takes 12 to 18 months on average.

Repairs done within the last month are not related to the upcoming reconstruction of the bridge.

Photo by New York City Department of Transportation