Trininty River Parkway has more issues
The Dallas Morning News has a piece this morning on the Trinity Parkway, an important piece of the overall Trinity River Corridor Project. I've been tracking the progress of this project for the last 8 years, and though you hear how it's about bridges, parks, water sports, wildlife, and most of all flood control, the proposed parkway is ever present.
In the article by Emily Ramshaw, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers say they figure the current configuration of the toll road may compromise one of the Trinity River's levees. Therefore the proposed design of the roadway, which is scheduled to run on top of and inside the levees, would need to be altered.After all this time, I still have not heard a good reason why the road has to run inside the levees, and thus close to the proposed parks and recreational activities. I mean I'm sure it's money, but what about risk reward? The article quotes Ed Oakley as saying the city has no other alternatives.
The toll road is the one part of this puzzle that has never fit in my mind. I visualize a beautiful sunbathed afternoon where you stroll up and down the river, on one end there are people riding the rapids, on the other naturists observing birds in their element. I see kids running around, joggers and cyclist passing by, people walking their dogs. But the whole thing turns around when out of nowhere a car speeds through and messes up the whole mood.
I agree with Angela Hunt in the article, who proposes the location of the parkway be changed, which is not the same as being opposed to the toll road. There are so many moving pieces here, but this tollway could eventually make this public space end up as a good destination (like the Riverwalk in San Antonio), verses a great one.
