With the arrival of spring, when parks and outdoor spaces are back in New York, the large urban projects linked to green are also visible. It is the case of the new plan for the High Falls State Park in Rochester, a city of about 210,000 inhabitants overlooking Lake Ontario, historically marked by the presence of the Genesee River and its industrial infrastructure. The project, formalized in a recently published masterplan, aims to transform the area around High Falls – a waterfall of about 24 meters – into a state park of about 16 hectares, opening to the public portions of the throat remained inaccessible for over a century.
The intervention is part of the ROC the Riverway program, which has been launched in recent years to redevelop the city waterfront and reconnect Rochester to its river, after decades of progressive abandonment and industrial decline. The masterplan includes a combination of infrastructure and landscape interventions: panoramic points at different heights, a pedestrian bridge that will connect the two shores of the gorge, a system of paths about 4 kilometers long and public spaces like meadows, play areas and a historical garden built on a former industrial area. Among the most important elements there is a new viewpoint at the base of the waterfall, designed to physically approach visitors to the water jump.
Vista così, effettivamente la cascata non sembra proprio stupenda
High Falls has been a contradictory symbol of the city for decades: on the one hand, a central natural resource in the economic development of Rochester, on the other, marginalized by industrial infrastructure, energy plants and accessibility problems. The opening of the throat to the public is a paradigm change similar to that already seen in other U.S. cities, where former production areas were converted into urban parks. In this case, however, the presence of a waterfall in the city center makes the project relatively rare in the North American landscape.
Così sarebbe decisamente meglio: è quello a cui punta il masterplan
From the operational point of view, the park is still in the preliminary phase but has exceeded the design stage. The state of New York has already allocated approximately $8 million for design, while the overall construction costs will be defined in the next steps. Environmental reclamation works along the throat are already started, necessary passage after decades of industrial activity, and the realization will proceed for phases from the end of 2026. The opening will be progressive: the first accessible areas will rise around the waterfalls, then extend northwards with land acquisition and completion of interventions. For Rochester, it would be the first urban state park, an element that strengthens the symbolic weight of the project within environmental policies and regeneration of the state.
L’articolo A Rochester tries to give new life to a waterfall proviene da IlNewyorkese.
