hoover-mason trestle

Around July 28, Bonnie and I did a six-mile loop over two bridges, thru the casino / Steel property. As we were walking under the elevated railroad bridge I said, wouldn't this be cool if someone made this into a High-Line? That was so much fun to walk in NYC.

In today's paper, the city announced that they are. From my lips to city planners ears! Since links from the paper disappear quickly (you must have a paid digital subscription.) I'll copy paste some of the article right into this thread.

The official name of the trestle is the Hoove-Mason Trestle. "The trestle, named for the New York engineering firm that designed it, was commissioned in 1905 under the leadership of Charles Schwab, the company's first chairman"  It was used to carry ore from the ore pit, to the blast furnances.

"Now, community leaders are looking to see if the Hoover-Mason Trestle can be reused as an elevated pedestrian path, connecting the new SteelStacks art and entertainment campus near the rusting blast furnaces to where the Sands casino built its resort over the old ore pits a third of a mile away." (When I was taking pictures tonight, I noticed that it just ends. Clearly the removed a section to build the hotel. Otherwise, as you can see from the picture, it would go right thru the hotel!)

The "study" will cost a 1/4 million dollars. Sounds pretty steep for a hunk of iron that will last for another two, three hundred years. After all, it is BETHLEHEM Steel. My daddy and his co-workers didn't make junk.

"ArtsQuest President Jeff Parks, whose group built the performing arts center at SteelStacks, said the trestle provides an excellent opportunity for historic interpretation as the old industrial property transforms into a tourist destination." ... "In Bethlehem, he envisions historic markers that would help visitors understand the history of the steelmaking plant that went cold in the mid-1990s and eventually fell into bankruptcy."

"Charlie Martin, who was also Steel's chief plant engineer, said the trestle had been built as the demand for structural steel increased to build skyscrapers and fill government contracts. Such an output required more iron ore and limestone for the furnaces than could be stored at their base.
With little room to expand there, the company looked eastward at the vacant land just east of the Minsi Trail Bridge and ordered a trestle be designed to bear 200 tons of raw material. Coke, which was stored closer to Hellertown, was brought in by rail and loaded onto the trestle as well, he said."

"It's unclear what the pedestrian walkway will look like until the design is completed. The public will be invited to several community planning meetings this fall, and a plan could be unveiled by the end of the year." Be still my heart.

Hopefully it won't take five years to finish this. Or more. (It will probably take that long to raise the cash!) It took a long time for the Greenway, and it still isn't finished. But it's a great place to walk even unfinished.

I always thought that South Bethlehem was a great place to walk. Now it's going to get even better.