Updated: May 12, 2003

Evaluation to Open High Bridge Under Way

Completed in 1848 and connecting the Bronx and Manhattan, the High Bridge is New York City’s oldest standing bridge. It is also the most celebrated and visible element of the Old Croton Aqueduct, which first supplied the City with clean water in 1842. The bridge – 1240 feet long and 110 feet high – is a National Historic Landmark, but has been in disrepair for many decades and is no longer open to the public. Once a vital link to the City’s upstate water supply and a tourist destination for thousands of people each day, it now sits idle.

The DEP is working to change that though. In partnership with the Parks Department and the Department of Transportation, the DEP is working with The High Bridge Coalition to investigate ways to return the bridge to its former glory. While the Old Croton Aqueduct is out of service permanently, the goal is to make the bridge available to pedestrians and bicyclists as the Manhattan/Bronx link of a future Old Croton Aqueduct Greenway.