Stimulus Watch

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[edit] General Description

This is supposed to be the second of the signature bridges over the Trinity river. These are a series of suspension bridges planned to cross the river bed and to be designed by Spanish architect - Santiago Calatrava. The first bridge, the Margaret Hunt-Hill memorial bridge is already under construction.

The project is intended to create "iconic" (the planner's statements, not mine, views of the "gateway" to Dallas along the I-35 corridor.

[edit] Points in Favor

Interstate Highway 30 (IH-30), or sometimes locally known as the "Old Turnpike" was once a tollroad when it was originally constructed in the 1950s. The bridge has had little work done to it since. TX-DOT (Texas Department of Transportation), since taking it over in the early 1990s has slowly and steadily been rebuilding the former tollroad in order to convert it to a standard interstate expressway (thus removing insanely unnecessary looping ramps at exits), rebuilding the roadbed (which wasn't designed to last this long), and widen the roadway, as it is a main artery linking the Dallas and Ft. Worth downtown centers.

The IH-30 bridge over the Trinity River, constantly prone to downtown traffic, is a vital part of that long-term project that needs to take place in order to update the deteriorating condition of these bridges, widen a bottleneck that forms right before entering downtown Dallas, and prepare for the next phase of the road updating project: rebuilding the Dallas Mixmaster, the largest (and oldest) highway interchange in downtown Dallas.

This project is vital because: Rebuilding this road stretch alleviates a major arterial traffic bottleneck, makes the condition of the highway safer (it's IH-35 counterpart recently had to be patched for a gaping hole over the Trinity), and leads to less traffic, which in turn leads to higher productivity for commuters.

[edit] Points Against

This is a vanity project that does nothing for traffic congestion.

Suspension bridges were a means to address unique bridge installation where there were technological reasons that bridge supports could not be placed or a need to maintain navigability of the waterways. The Trinity River may be many things, navigable it is not. It isn't really a river as much as a river bed.

Santiago Calatrava was derivative and passe' long before he was ever hired to do these projects. He has been noted by critics (and supporters too in some cases) as being an example of "brandscaping". In other words he creates a look that is placed in an environment that the environment is expected to mold itself to the project. This is also known as an eyesore.