Um, I think that’s a bit of a stretch. It’s quite a distance from High Bridge to Yankee Stadium, and there are steep hills to contend with in the Bronx.

The restoration of the bridge and of unimpeded, 24-hour pedestrian and bicycle access are important for another reason, and that reason is High Bridge Park. This extraordinary park, carved into a steep cliffside, overlooks the Harlem River. Grand stone staircases lead to a series of tiered paths, and at the bottom, to a broad and pleasant walk and bikeway that goes north to Dyckman Street and, if you go west, to Fort Tryon Park. (The adjacent Harlem River Drive was built on turf used in the 19th century as a trotters raceway.)

But this extraordinary public resource has been shunned by its nearest neighbors for a very long time, and it shows. At 181st Street, where cars pour onto the Washington (not the George) Bridge to the Bronx, the entrances to High Bridge Park might as well have “Keep Out” signs posted. That’s how derelict the place looks. But if you persevere, you encounter–besides encampments of the homeless–the shell of an amazing public space. (Stand under the massive stone arches of the Washington Bridge and fail to be awed–I dare you.)

Volunteers are laboring heroically but can do only so much to reverse decades of neglect that may take decades to undo at the current pace. But if the bridge and, as a result, the park were used by more people, a much broader constituency might develop–one that could organize and demand the level of funding this project truly deserves.