Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park is the World's Longest Elevated Pedestrian Bridge, spanning the Hudson River between Poughkeepsie and Highland, New York in the beautiful Hudson Valley. Originally opened in 1889 as the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge, the Walkway was a thoroughfare for trains until 1974, when a great fire twisted the tracks and ended its service as a rail line. From 1974 until the mid-2000s, the bridge sat dormant until the completion of a grassroots community campaign to adapt the structure into a pedestrian park led to the opening of Walkway Over the Hudson in 2009. To date, more than seven million people have visited to walk, run, bike, skate, stroll, and take in breathtaking, unobstructed 360-degree views of the Hudson River and its scenic surroundings.