The Great Rochester Slide

A signature ride for Pont de Rennes, built as lasting public infrastructure, not a novelty.

Following the Rochester–Monroe Transformation Initiative path in the open: site control, capital stack, safety systems, and a durable ops plan.

Pont de Rennes · Photo Kenneth C. Zirkel / CC BY-SA 4.0

The Idea

An iconic descent above High Falls

Why do this? Because it is fun. We do not have enough of that anymore. Rochester needs an attraction people actually care about: something that stitches this place together, gets bodies moving, and gives the city a shared thrill to point at.

The concept is a permanent, safety-engineered transparent slide experience integrated with the City-owned Pont de Rennes Bridge, complementary to High Falls State Park and ROC the Riverway.

Capital funding is being pursued through New York State’s Rochester–Monroe Transformation Initiative (RMTI) : a $225M Empire State Development capital grant pool applied via the Consolidated Funding Application (program ID 821). Ongoing operations would be backed by a separately raised reserve, not by treating grant dollars as an endowment.

The work is being advanced by Joe Combs, a Rochester-area builder documenting the path in public.

Where

Pont de Rennes · Rochester, NY

Genesee River gorge at High Falls, Monroe County, ZIP 14605. The bridge is City-owned; the concept sits next door to the state’s High Falls State Park investment.

Open larger map · pin at Pont de Rennes / High Falls