Friends of the High Line was founded in 1999 to coordinate efforts to save a 2.3 km-long elevated railway in Southwestern Manhattan by turning it into a public park-promenade. The rail line had been abandoned in the 1980s and was covered in vegetation, producing a wild landscape a few metres above the pedestrians of New York City. A DIY publicity campaign to avoid demolition attracted local attention, including celebrities and local business groups; the campaign was successful in 2005, and an architectural competition to redesign the High Line was won in 2008 by the firm of Diller & Scofidio. Construction is currently underway.