Repairs Coming To Fort Washington Pedestrian Bridge, Report Says

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — The city will begin repairs on a pedestrian bridge that connects Fort Washington Park in Washington Heights to the Hudson River Greenway more than one month after the span was shut down due to safety concerns, according to reports.

Work to repair the Fort Washington Pedestrian Bridge — which provides safe passage over the Amtrak tracks on West 180th Street — will begin on Monday, Oct. 1, Streetsblog New York first reported. A city Parks Department spokeswoman told the publication that fixes are expected to take one month to complete.

The Parks Department shut down the bridge, which is popular among pedestrians and cyclists, on Friday, Aug. 24. The dilapidated bridge was initially shut down for an inspection, but remained closed when parks officials deemed it unsafe.

Signs were placed at parks entrances to alert pedestrians and bicyclists to a detour path. Visitors should utilize the bridge on West 181st Street to access nearby streets and can enter the Hudson River Greenway by using the bridges on West 158th Street and the Henry Hudson Parkway or West 153rd Street and Riverside Drive.

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.

Upcoming repairs that will be done on the bridge include fixes to "unseen structural support" and the bridge's "surface decking," a Parks spokeswoman told Streetsblog. These repairs are not related to the plan to reconstruct the bridge.

Read the full Streetsblog NY article here.

Rendering of redesigned bridge courtesy Parks Department