<P> The High Line (also known as High Line Park) is a 1.45 - mile - long (2.33 km) elevated linear park, greenway and rail trail . It was created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the west side of Manhattan in New York City . Led by landscape architecture firm James Corner Field Operations, the abandoned railway has been redesigned as a "living system" that draws from multiple disciplines including landscape architecture, urban design, and ecology . Since opening in 2009, the High Line has become an icon in contemporary landscape architecture . </P> <P> The park is built on the disused southern viaduct section of a New York Central Railroad line called the West Side Line . Originating in the Lower West Side of Manhattan, the park runs from Gansevoort Street--three blocks below 14th Street--in the Meatpacking District, through Chelsea, to the northern edge of the West Side Yard on 34th Street near the Javits Center . Formerly, the West Side Line went as far south as a railroad terminal at Spring Street, just north of Canal Street . However, most of the southern section was demolished in 1960, with another small portion being demolished in 1991 . </P> <P> The High Line was inspired by the 3 - mile - long (4.8 km) Promenade plantée (tree - lined walkway), a similar project in Paris completed in 1993 . Repurposing of the railway into an urban park began in 2006, with the first phase opening in 2009, and the second phase opening in 2011 . The third and final phase officially opened to the public on September 21, 2014 . A short stub above Tenth Avenue and 30th Street will open by 2018 once the first phase of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project is complete . </P> <P> Its success has inspired cities nationwide to reimagine obsolete infrastructure as public space . Additionally, the project has spurred real estate development in the neighborhoods that lie along the line, and increased real estate values and prices along the route, the result of a "halo effect". As of September 2014, the park gets nearly 5 million visitors annually . </P>

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