The first stage of Taichung railway elevation has been completed. The Taichung Government plans to preserve the 1.6km old railroad extending from the North of Taiwan Sugar Factory to the law enforcement office (six arts cultural center) in its Overpass blueprint, for the construction of green walkways and bike trails. Mayor Lin-chia lung visited The High Line Park in New York on the 18th to draw on experience. He stated that the city government is planning to seek out internationally acclaimed illumination master Chou Lien, whose work has included the Statue of Liberty in New York and the Chimei Museum in Tainan, to work on the Taichung Overpass and transforming the skywalk of an old township into a city spectacle.

On Jan 20th East coast time, American president-elect Donald Trump is being inaugurated. Taiwan formed a cross-party delegation for the ceremony, led by former Executive Yuan minister You Si-Kun, with Mayor Lin among the attendees. The team departed on the 16th and will be visiting The High Line Park in New York today.

The New York High Line Park is located in the west of Manhattan, initially an elevated railway carriage for meat, which gradually declined and fell into disrepair after the 80s. A vision of reactivation was later proposed by the community youth, in hopes of building the passage into a green skywalk park. After renovation, it has recently become a popular attraction in New York. The Park was designed in particular to retain the original railway sleepers and tracks, and well-designed wooden leisure seats can be seen along the meandering trails so that people coming for recreation can relax.

During his visit to the High Line Park, Mayor Lin also briefed the delegation on the Taichung Overpass. He said that Taichung Central District is undergoing Luchuan canal remediation, and in collocation with the Overpass running through Gancheng Park, Sugar Factory Park, Railway Park, Brewery Creative Park, the six arts cultural center, they will allow the public a walk in the air as if through a time tunnel of the century old Taichung city.

Mayor Lin stated Taichung's elevated green railway would be even greener than New York's High Line Park, which will be more in line with the lifestyle of Taichung residents. You not only can walk and relax but also cycle in the air. The green overpass of Taichung will cross residential areas, rewriting the appearance of surrounding residential life. Not only enhancing the quality of life but also increasing the public recreation space.

Taichung Green Overpass is expected to be completed next year, and Mayor Lin is expecting it to become the doorway driving overall regeneration for the old city and making the citizens proud.

The Taichung Government explained that the plan is to preserve the 1.6km old railroad between from the North of Taiwan Sugar Factory to the law enforcement office (six arts cultural center) to create green walkways and cycling areas. It will be connecting with surrounding sites and spurring a rebirth of the central district.

The project is divided into north and south side. The northern part of which will be strengthening the design of pedestrian and bicycle systems through the elevated old railway, linking up the sugar factory in co-competition on spatial design with the new Taichung station. It will be diverting the crowd of the station to the sugar factory and Gancheng area, improving overall pedestrian space and moving line.

The southern part will retain the Minsheng Road and Zhengyi Street underpass and other embankment, rail tracks, cross-road iron bridges and parts of the railway signs to undergo greening and railway environment reshaping; the interspaces between the retained embankment and the elevated railway with the frontal and back Taichung Railway station will be reviewed for its integration. It will be linked to the southern section of law enforcement office martial arts compound (six arts) and Japanese-style warden quarters, in hopes of improving the quality of community resident living environment.

The city government stated that the embankment is an important landscape asset witnessing the historical context of Taichung City. The areas between the central, west, east and south district will be sewn together by the linking of pedestrian walkways, bicycle trails and car lanes through detail design to ensure local development is unimpeded. Adequate green landscaping and open space are introduced to enhance the quality of the local environmental beauty and leisure functions, increase activity space for locals, infusing new open space and activities to the lack of green park space and public space in the newly evolving central city.