My spouse and I visited the Walkway Over the Hudson on a Sunday morning in late September 2015. Officially, this state park is open from 7:00 am to sunset, although we did not notice any gates that would bar entrance at other hours. The handicapped elevator operates within those official opening hours but not to their full extent (check the website). The Walkway opened in October of 2009 (after a 16-month renovation), although the bridge itself was first opened/used in 1889.
We thoroughly
investigated the website for the Walkway prior to our visit because we wanted
to explore the provisions for mobility-challenged. Even though we entered the
address for the area of the bridge with elevator access, when we drove there, we
could see neither a parking lot nor the elevator itself. Only partially
handicapped at the time, we were able to park in one of the regular public lots
for the bridge and walk half its length (to just past the elevator). Parking
was a little difficult on the day that we visited because a charity walk was
set to begin about one hour after we arrived. Some limited street parking is
also available. Permanent port-o-potty restrooms are available near the parking
lot, which are handicap-accessible. (There were additional truly portable
restroom facilities on the day that we visited, but we think that they were
just set up for the walking event.)
The bridge is 24
feet wide, which accommodates many walkers at a time (also joggers, families
with strollers, people with pets, bicyclists, etc). If you choose to walk from
one side of the bridge to the other (Poughkeepsie to Highland), the walk totals
1.28 miles long miles
(one-way) over the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge. At a height of 212
feet tall, it is the longest elevated pedestrian bridge in the world. We read that some people choose to walk
the bridge in a loop – they walk over the Walkway Over the Hudson on the
outbound, and then hike down and return to Poughkeepsie via the (Franklin D.
Roosevelt) Mid-Hudson Bridge (or vice versa) so that they can enjoy even more
scenery. Guided tours and a mobile tour app are available if you require more
information, although placards with photos and accompanying text are placed are
various intervals on the bridge that explain more about it.
We enjoyed our
visit and would return at different times of the year to enjoy the changing
scenery. We recommend talking a walk on the Walkway Over the Hudson, but we
suggest getting there early in the day so that it is less crowded.
