SOLVED: Why Did the Walkway Over the Hudson Turn Purple?

Keen observers noticed something different about the Walkway Over the Hudson, and there's a very good reason why.

If you happened to be driving on Route 9 in Poughkeepsie, New York on Sunday night, you probably noticed something peculiar about both the Mid-Hudson Bridge and the Walkway Over the Hudson.

Both landmarks were bathed in deep purple, giving off a glow that was reflected off the water of the Hudson River. Some were wondering if the light show had something to do with the Labor Day holiday or the change of months from August to September. Neither of these events had anything to do with why the landmarks were lit up in purple. It was actually another somber event that the lights were lit to raise awareness of.

SOLVED: Why The Walkway Over the Hudson in Poughkeepsie Turned Purple

On Sunday, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that a long list of New York landmarks, including the Walkway Over the Hudson, would be lit in purple to commemorate International Overdose Awareness Day. The color purple is associated with the mourning of family members and friends who died from drug overdoses. In what's become an epidemic across the country, drug-related deaths have impacted many New Yorkers.

In 2023, the Metropolitan Area had the most fatal overdoses, while the highest percentage of deaths from overdose was in Western New York, where there were 38.5 fatalities for every 100,000 residents.

Hochul says that New York has successfully been able to reduce the rate of overdose deaths by almost 30 percent over the past two years, but the effects of drug addiction are still quite dire. Nearly 13 New Yorkers died every single day last year from an overdose. While this number is down from 18 people per day in 2023, it's still a shocking statistic.

By making naloxone and other overdose reversal medications more available to the public, increasing access to testing for deadly drugs like fentanyl and offering support to organizations working on the front lines of the overdose epidemic, Hochul says New York continues to address the epidemic and work towards its goal of creating an overdose-free generation.