Randall's Island goes Winter Hibernation

Path Under Hell's Gate Bridge

Randall's Island isn't hard to get to if you're anywhere in Manhattan. Take the Lexington 4 or 5 train up to 125th St. and walk East towards the bridge until you get to 1st Avenue. The

Above: Kyle Eccelston, 19, blowing dirt off the Hells Gate Trailfootbridge on 103rd St. has been closed since October 31st until it's expected reopening in Spring 2012, the first sign of the park closing up for the season. On 125th street swoop a right to 124th and catch the crosstown M35 across the bridge and hop out as soon as you get on land. The place is hard looking for pedestrians like yourself, however, as it is in the process of closing up for the winter. No one walks around up there save for construction workers who are working to finish the 'reconstruction' project that began in 2007.

The landscapers closed up s

hop today, December 14th.

"I'm just cleaning off the paths, and then we're finished" said Kyle Eccelston, a 19-year-old of Islip working for R+R Brett Landscaping.

The vast fields lie empty after a season of Electric Zoo and Cirque du Soliel at Icahn Stadium. The shows on Randall's Island draw many, 2011 Electric Zoo landed one-hundred thousand people, according to Andrew Wood of The Observer. Randall's Island revenue make-

Right: A Construction suit lies next to a comfort station on the north east side of the island Construction workers now have time to do maintenance.

s up $3 million of the $6 million revenue of the park. As a separate entity from the Park Department, Randall's Island Sports Foundation is funded by events as well as individual and institutional donors.

While the RISF park closes up seasonal activities, a garage on the west side of the Island

stays open, there is one City of New York Parks and Recreation park on the island, which lives on top of this garage. At a square 29,000 ft. the rooftop garden is the second largest municipal green roof in the cou-

ntry according to the Parks Department Chief of Technical Services, Artie Rollins, built in 2007, it was also one of the

Left: Kyle Eccelston, 19, blowing dirt off of Hells Gate Path

first in the city. The garden is open to the public, and boarders the Triborough Bridge. It won't be closing up for now, "[greenroofs] still have a function as long as it's not freezing" Rollins says, the roof functions because it still absorbs water, and after the frost comes "it's basically kind

of barren up there." Rollins says. Below: A plant foregrounds the Triborough Bridge looking into Manhattan

Below: A plaque explains what is in the bed. There are 25 systems total on the roof