The replacement for the Willis Ave Bridge was floated down the Hudson River yesterday, from it’s building facility up north of Catskill NY. To get something like this down river they had to weld 2 barges together, and use 3 tugs to keep it on track.
The whole event, for the few of us that came out for it, was great. I ended up chatting and joking with 3 other completely random folks near where the AP had set up their video camera. It was that perfect sense of community, even though no one knew each other, we were there for a common event. Even when there were discussions around the walkway, which is our local contentious issue, and it was clear that people had different points of view, it was a level of civil and jovial discourse that just doesn’t exist in politics any more. It was refreshing and wonderful.
A perfect way to end a day in the office.
On January 17, 2010 · Comments Off
Via the NY Outdoors Blog:
The Hudson River Valley Greenway has announced the availability of an interactive Water Trail map
on the newly updated and re‐designed Hudson River Greenway Water Trail
website. The redesigned website features a map of the water trail using
Google Map, as well as information pages for water trail users and
current and potential site owners, a page on currently designated
sites, location and use of kayak storage racks, water trail grants, and
a chronicle of this year’s Great Champlain‐Hudson Paddle.
The Hudson River Greenway Water Trail is a small boat trail along
portions of the lower Hudson River and is a component of the Hudson
River Greenway Trail System. The Water Trail contains access points
(launches), campsites and day use sites (attractions) along 256 miles
of the Hudson River and Champlain Canal. The trail begins in Whitehall,
Washington County and in Hadley, Saratoga County and ends at Battery
Park in Manhattan. Mark Castiglione, Acting Executive Director of the
Hudson River Valley Greenway, stated, “The interactive map includes a
comprehensive list of public access launch sites along the 256‐mile
Hudson River Greenway Water Trail. The map provides paddling
enthusiasts ready information about Water Trail sites and is a tool
they can use to help plan their river adventures.
Visit www.hudsongreenway.state.ny.us for more information about the Greenway and its programs.
This makes it a heck of a lot easier to figure out where the launch point for canoes and kayaks are, as they are often not marked all that well. Kudos to all the folks at the Hudson River Greenway for making this happen.
On October 5, 2009 · Comments Off
The Walkway Over The Hudson is an amazing thing. A 1.3 mile bridge that spans the Hudson River here in Poughkeepsie, which just opened this past weekend after decades of effort. We were lucky enough to participate in the lighting ceremony on Friday night, which involved sending up these Sky Lanterns. Yes, they are powered by fire, which makes them even more awesome.
If you live anywhere near Poughkeepsie, you really owe it to yourself to come check the walkway out. The scale of the thing is so different than anything you’ve been on before that it doesn’t really feel like a bridge (at least not to me), but more of a mythical sky way.
I’ve got a bunch of other photos up at my smugmug site, take a look if you are interested in the walkway.
