Walkway Over the Hudson began as the Poughkeepsie–Highland Railroad Bridge, a steel cantilever crossing completed in 1889 between Poughkeepsie and Highland. Planned for decades and delayed by financial and engineering failures, it became an important freight rail link connecting southern New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and the Midwest. The bridge was strengthened as rail demands increased, but service ended after a 1974 fire damaged its east end. Acquired in 1998 for preservation through public reuse, it reopened in 2009 as a pedestrian and bicycle route. Now part of a state historic park and the Empire State Trail, it links trails on both sides of the Hudson.