Walkway Over The Hudson

Description

Walkway Over the Hudson is located at 61 Parker Ave., Poughkeepsie, NY. There is plenty of parking at both the east and west ends of the walkway.

"The Walkway is completely accessible via flat, paved walking trails from both ends. It is wheelchair and stroller friendly..There are chest height, safety railing on both sides of the smooth, concrete walkway." (website)

A multi-stall restroom, with large accessible stall, accessible sinks, and baby-changing station are located at both ends of the Walkway. There is a family restroom as well, which was not open when we visited.

There are no food services at this time.

Checklist

Attraction Type:  park
Surface of lot:  paved in paid lot, gravel in free parking area
Distance to venue:  depends on where you park
Transportation to venue offered:  na
Terrain:  The Walkway is completely flat, with several small inclines
Places to rest:  several benches along the way
Paths and walkways:  concrete walkway, stone and brick at either end, near restrooms
Doors:  na
Number of floors:  na
Elevators:  **one
Ramps:  no
Steps and staircases:  none
Width of aisles:  the Walkway is quite wide
Places to sit:  several benches along the path
Location of restrooms:  at either end of the Walkway
Type of restroom:  multi-stall, with large, accessible stall, wheelchair accessible sinks and baby-changing station
Ease of entry and exit:  easy
Baby changing station:  yes
Available food services:  none open at this time
Friendliness of staff:  Although not staff, the few people we spoke with were lovely
Notes:  * there are three accessible spaces very close to the walkway ** There is no dedicated "Accessible entrance." The walkway is completely open at both ends. There is an elevator that will take you up the 21 stories to the middle of the Walkway. It is accessible from "Upper Landing Park." We have no further information on this because the elevator was not open on the day of our visit.

Read More

Several weeks ago I heard about “Walkway Over The Hudson,” a venue I had never heard of, even though it has been in existence since 2009. Actually, it has been in existence since 1889, as the Poughkeepsie Highland Railroad Bridge. It was the longest railroad bridge in the world, used for both freight and passenger trains. It was destroyed by a fire in 1974, and opened in 2009 as “Walkway Over the Hudson,” the world’s longest, elevated pedestrian bridge. It is a New York State Historic Park.

A  wonderful idea in repurposing became a wonderful venue, visited by more than 600,000 people each year.

I knew I had to see it, so I enlisted my “better half” in taking a day trip from  our Long Island home to Poughkeepsie, a mere 110 miles. Our early morning ride was easy, a bit more than two hours. Our ride home, not so easy. Between construction and traffic, that two hour drive became  much longer . Even with that, we were so glad we went. 

You can park at either end of the Walkway. We parked at the Poughkeepsie end, in a paved parking lot close to the beginning. If you have an Empire Pass, parking is free, otherwise it is metered. But, if you don’t mind uneven gravel, there is plenty of free parking really close by.

The paved lot has three accessible spaces. The free parking area does not even have marked spaces.  If you park on the Highland side, the area is more parklike. There is too much to describe here. I strongly suggest looking at the website, http://www.walkway.org">www.walkway.org, for detailed information on what is around, “The Greater Walkway Experience” describes what you will find West of the Hudson River as well as East of the Hudson. It would be easy to spend an entire day exploring if you have the time and stamina. 

Walking from the parking lot we entered the Walkway on the East side. The first thing we came upon was the “Welcome Area,” and restroom building. Take note that the same things exist at the West end of the Walkway. Multi-stall restrooms have a large, accessible stall, accessible sinks, and a baby-changing station. The“family restroom,” was locked, with no one around to ask to unlock it. There are some picnic tables and benches in this area as well. The “shop” has not reopened as yet. We did find some lovely people selling souvenirs and offering information about the Walkway and surrounding areas.

“The Walkway is completely accessible via flat, paved walking trails from both ends… It is wheelchair and stroller friendly…There are chest height, safety railings on both sides of the wide, flat and smooth concrete walkway.” (website)  We found several sets of benches along the way. The website says it is 1.28 miles long. We clocked 1.8 miles from our car to the restrooms at the other end.

We took our time, stopping to take advantage of the peaceful, beautiful views from 212 feet above the water. Being a sunny, clear day, we could see for many miles both up and down the river. Just gorgeous! It must be incredible with the colors of autumn. As we watched several Amtrack trains rolling along, all I could think of was that they looked like a train set from our perch up high. There is an audio tour, which we were supposed to be able to listen to by scanning to our phones at the signs along the walk, but we were unsuccessful, as were several other people we saw.

The Walkway can also be accessed via a 21 story, glass elevator. The elevator will get you to the middle of the Walkway, for a view without too much of a walk. The elevator is at Upper Landing Park. We could not find much parking near the Park. Perhaps there is parking within. We could not get inside because the iron gates were closed. Because of this, we cannot tell you any more about this aspect of the venue. Even with this hiccup, Walkway Over the Hudson is an extremely accessible, interesting place to visit.

If you want to have a great meal and plan in advance, know that The Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde Park is only several miles away. Advance reservations are always necessary. 

As always, we at Destination:Accessible, advise you to check a venue’s webiste, http://www.walkway.org">www.walkway.org, to “know before you go,”

Location

Nearby