SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

The Yorkshire Evening Post (YEP) today (Sept 28 2013) has a report on page 3 about a project to turn the disused Holbeck Viaduct "through a £10,000 community-led project to turn it into a park and sky walkway into Leeds city centre". This is the link to the online report in the YEP website:- http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/n ... -1-6095077

Leodian wrote: The Yorkshire Evening Post (YEP) today (Sept 28 2013) has a report on page 3 about a project to turn the disused Holbeck Viaduct "through a £10,000 community-led project to turn it into a park and sky walkway into Leeds city centre". This is the link to the online report in the YEP website:- http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/n ... -1-6095077 Thanks for posting the link - I'd seen the article and you beat me to it!Whilst I can see the sense of the basic idea, the piece is yet another piece of shockingly poor journalism for the YEP, which 5 minutes of checking the facts on the internet could have avoided.

raveydavey wrote: Whilst I can see the sense of the basic idea, the piece is yet another piece of shockingly poor journalism for the YEP, which 5 minutes of checking the facts on the internet could have avoided. I've travelled over it countless times, and I'm 46... *Five decades since trains on a soot-filled railway viaduct were stopped in their tracks*It is a good idea if they can't use it for transport again, and with with L.C.C's delusions of follybus, I doubt anything would ever happen like that with this crowd of clowns at Civic Hall. So a nice walkway at least makes some good use of it. The High Line in New York is where they have been inspired from.Once a disused goods railway in the sky running through the less than salubrious meat packing district of New York. Tourists now flock to see it, and the area is becoming much sought after.Various pics of the N.Y.C high line herehttp://tinyurl.com/qdvk9qr        

I dunno about £10,000 though, just the necessary consultation costs and health and safety assessments etc would dwarf that amount, never mind the cost of bringing the structure up to a safe standard then landscaping, fencing etc and all for what? There is already a 'green corridor' - the Leeds Liverpool canal, plus the river Aire running directly parallel to the disused viaduct. Dont get me wrong, I'd love to see something useful happen to it, but given the location of the viaduct is kind of nowheresville I dont see there would be great demand for its use as a park or 'skyway'. Sounds a bit pie-in-the-sky to me, but maybe I've just got no vision (for Leeds) - ahem..!

It's a valid point jon.Much as I'd like to see the viaduct found a use, recreational if not rail, I'm struggling to see a valid use for it as things stand.The "skyway" idea sounds fantastic, but essentially you're looking at moving people from halfway up an industrialised Gelderd Road to a desolate car park on Globe Road. Introducing any sort of access to the station, or even Granary Wharf, would be an expensive and perhaps even insurmountable challenge.Even where it passes close to residential areas, I can't see it would offer anything over the existing routes into the city centre other than being away from traffic and it would need some sort of apparatus to get people up onto the viaduct in the first place.It's a marvelous feat of Victorian engineering and a true testament to the skills of the time, but the more I look at it on Google maps the more I think it's simply in the wrong place for modern times.The only other realistic use, might be for some sort of tram-train using it to link the proposed Elland Road park and ride with the city centre, but even then you've massive expense for something that can be provided by buses at a fraction of the cost.

It could be somewhere to park the trolleybuses! OK, it would cost loads but what the heck that does seem to matter regarding the folley, oops sorry, trolley buses scheme.

Leodian wrote: It could be somewhere to park the trolleybuses! OK, it would cost loads but what the heck that does seem to matter regarding the folley, oops sorry, trolley buses scheme. would this come out just over the canal / river at Whitehall road back of old YEP (front of new YEP).They could make steps and a gradual bike ramp down so you could pop out by the lifting tower where new build is going on.Or is this a different viaduct?

Jogon wrote: Leodian wrote: It could be somewhere to park the trolleybuses! OK, it would cost loads but what the heck that does seem to matter regarding the folley, oops sorry, trolley buses scheme. would this come out just over the canal / river at Whitehall road back of old YEP (front of new YEP).They could make steps and a gradual bike ramp down so you could pop out by the lifting tower where new build is going on.Or is this a different viaduct? Yes - this one joins the main station track layout just south of the canal / Globe Road.

This scheme has made a re-appearance on the YEP website:http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/n ... 1-6393002I can't see how it makes any sense other than to those pushing the scheme and Network Rail seem deeply disinterested too.Yes, it would be good to see it brought into some sort of use (preferably rail), but how are people going to get up there from street level and how many would want to walk from Water Lane to Gelderd Road in the first place?

If you could connect it up to the dragon bridge area you could create a pedestrian link into town that might be used?? Perhaps.I laughed at the comment about the future growth in rail demand.