POUGHKEEPSIE - Once the longest railroad bridge in the world, the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge could be reborn as the longest pedestrian bridge in the world by the fall of 2009.

Hours after Gov. Eliot Spitzer, in his State of the State address, announced his commitment to transform the long-dormant Hudson River crossing into "an awe-inspiring historic park," Walkway Over the Hudson, the not-for-profit organization that owns the 120-year-old span, unveiled a structural study and design plans to more than 450 people who gathered Wednesday evening at the Poughkeepsie Grand Hotel.

"I've been telling people for five years that the bridge is structurally sound and I've said it with very little proof," said Walkway Over the Hudson Chairman Fred Schaefer. "Now we have that proof."

Peter Melewski, a principal with Bergmann Associates and the project's manager, said he was "pleasantly surprised" to find there was nothing so significantly wrong with the 6,767-foot-long bridge's superstructure to thwart the organization's dream of creating a walkway across the Hudson River.

"Given it's age, we were pleasantly surprised at the structural condition of the bridge," Melewski said.

Poughkeepsie resident Richard Redl remembers when the bridge served as the major rail connection between the northeast and the Midwest, and he remembers the fire that forced its closure in 1974.

He said converting the bridge into a pedestrian walkway "is an excellent idea."

"It will tie both sides of the river together," he said. "I think it's an excellent idea that should go forward."

Jim O'Leary of Highland said that not converting the bridge into a walkway "would be a waste of a marvelous asset."

As proposed, the 3,000-foot span above the water would be 35 feet wide, Melewski said, not only allowing visitors the room to stop and admire the spectacular views the 212-foot high bridge has to offer, but also providing space for special events to be held on the structure.

The portions of walkway over land would be 15-feet wide, and there would be elevators on the Dutchess County side to provide access to the handicapped and bicyclists, Melewski said.

The cost of the project is estimated at $25 million, with funding coming from a mix of private donations and governmental grants.

Erik Kulleseid, New York state's deputy parks commissioner for open space protection, said Spitzer will make known his proposed funding for the project when the governor releases his 2008-09 state budget on Jan. 22.

He said the governor intends to see the "dream a reality."

"It's going to be a great state park," Kulleseid said. "This is a great idea whose time has come."

Robert Camoin, president of Camoin Associates, said that, when completed, the walkway will serve as a tourism magnet that could attract as many as 110,000 visitors from outside the region each year and generate an economic impact of more than $21 million per year.

The organization hopes to complete construction of the walkway in time for the state's 2009 Quadricentennial Celebration of Henry Hudson's first exploratory journey up the river.