Seoul turned an abandoned overpass into its own $33 million version of the 'High Line'

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June 12, 2017 4:03 PM

The South Korean capital constructed an elevated park, full of flowers, shrubs, and trees, in the middle of the city.

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The South Korean capital of Seoul recently completed a massive urban garden that rivals the High Line, New York City's famed elevated park.

Called Seoullo 7017 (or Seoul Street), the project turned an abandoned overpass into a lush public park with over 24,000 plants.

In 2015, the Dutch architecture firm MRVDV won a competition launched by the city to design the milelong park that hovers over the city.

Construction of the estimated $33 million project (funded by the local government) started a year later, and it opened in late May.

is part of a larger urban regeneration effort that aims to make Seoul, a city with over 10 million residents, more pedestrian-friendly.

Check it out below.

Seoul's Seoullo 7017 winds around buildings and stretches 3,000 feet long in the city center.

The garden went up on a portion of an abandoned highway built in 1970. In 2006, the city shut it down due to concerns about its structural integrity.

Visitors can access the 55-foot-high park by stairs at specific points.

It features 254 species of local trees, shrubs, and flowers, including maple trees, evergreen conifers, rhododendron, and cherry blossoms.

They are arranged in alphabetical order so visitors can easily identify and learn about each one.

The project "can inspire further additions to the area’s greenery and public spaces, and will connect to its surroundings both physically and visually through plant species related to each of the neighborhoods," the firm said in a press release.

Throughout the Seoullo 7017, there are plant sculptures, vendors that sell tea ...

... exhibitions, street food markets, and flower shops.

In the evening, lights make the park glow.

It makes Seoul look even more green.

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