Supporters predicted great things for the Walkway Over the Hudson. And two months after the grand opening of the 212-foot-high pedestrian bridge linking the eastern and western shores of the river, the crowds have far exceeded even the rosiest predictions.
“Currently New York State Parks is estimating that during its first roughly two months of operation, it has attracted some 300,000 visits,” said Steve Densmore, a spokesman for the nonprofit Walkway Over the Hudson, which guided creation of the pedestrian skyway on the skeleton of an historic railroad bridge in time for the Hudson quadricentennial in early October. “That popularity is pretty notable because it exceeds the annual projection for visits to the Walkway we made before it opened. So needless to say visitation to the walkway has exceeded our expectations dramatically.”
Kevin Kihlmire, owner of River Station Restaurant in Poughkeepsie, said business has increased dramatically on weekends since the opening of the walkway. He said he is benefiting by his proximity to the Poughkeepsie Railroad Station that is bringing visitors from throughout the region. He said during the workweek since the walkway opened Oct. 2, his restaurant is serving perhaps an additional 20-30 people per day, while on Sundays, where he used to serve about 120 meals, business has soared to some 400 served.
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He has capitalized on his opportunity by providing a free shuttle van to customers from his restaurant to the Walkway and back, saying he started the service just two weeks after the Walkway opened and has already reaped rewards.
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“It does well on the weekends,” said Kihlmire. “We have groups sometimes of eight get off the train right across the street and we take them to the Walkway.”
He said so far its mostly metro-areas visitors coming to walk over the river. “I have taken quite a few people from Yonkers and White plans, Long Island. I see a lot of visitors coming from New Jersey,” said Kihlmire. “We get quite a few from Manhattan, too ”“ they shoot right up on the train. We make it easy to get them back and forth.”
Densmore said it”™s not just River Station that is benefiting. He said he has been told of special tours arranged bringing people up to see the walkway combined with visits to local restaurants. “That”™s the critical thing,” said Densmore. “Local visitors are appreciated, but the economic impact projections (pre-opening) were all based on out-of-town money coming in and being spent in the community We think we are seeing that and then some: tourism dollars brought in from outside the two counties. Folks are very pleased with that.”