Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum

Repairs are estimated to be completed by the end of the year, the city manager's office says

casperitl wrote:^ In the story linked in the post above it looks like the concrete sections are at different elevations? I have never been on the pedestrian section due to the closure and I'm wondering if this is a messed up deck or a feature? Seems dangerous given the uneven pavement.

soco wrote:The separation is intentional. The original signage and striping plan has cyclists and pedestrians in their own spaces on the approaches and on the bridge itself. On the bridge pedestrians transition to the raised portion while cyclists continue in their own 'bike lane'.

DPatel304 wrote:

soco wrote:The separation is intentional. The original signage and striping plan has cyclists and pedestrians in their own spaces on the approaches and on the bridge itself. On the bridge pedestrians transition to the raised portion while cyclists continue in their own 'bike lane'.

I really hope they plan to make the two lanes different colors or perhaps add some other sort of separator as well. Otherwise I could definitely see it being a bit dangerous if it's not noticeable.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:I bet Mr. Santiago Calatrava has a contractual ban of painted symbols or painted concrete to try to organize the types of traffic. His style is bright white everything... He already threw a fit when the city talked about colorful LED lighting for the bridge. The problem with high profile Celeb-Architects is cities are so desperate to have their trophies on the skyline they are likely to bend to their celebrity requests no matter what they are.

ajderry2017 wrote:

cowboyeagle05 wrote:I bet Mr. Santiago Calatrava has a contractual ban of painted symbols or painted concrete to try to organize the types of traffic. His style is bright white everything... He already threw a fit when the city talked about colorful LED lighting for the bridge. The problem with high profile Celeb-Architects is cities are so desperate to have their trophies on the skyline they are likely to bend to their celebrity requests no matter what they are.

After construction is done, do you think it’s too late to add some sort of lights on the bridges? Is the council in favor of it?

Tnexster wrote:The Margaret McDermott Bridge Will Finally Open to Pedestrians Next Month
It's four years late and $7 million over budget, but you can soon walk or bike over the Trinity River along the Margaret McDermott Bridge.

https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2 ... ext-month/

quixomniac wrote:

Tnexster wrote:The Margaret McDermott Bridge Will Finally Open to Pedestrians Next Month
It's four years late and $7 million over budget, but you can soon walk or bike over the Trinity River along the Margaret McDermott Bridge.

https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2 ... ext-month/

Wow. alot earlier than i thought it would. Y'all go on ahead. Ill check it out in july if it doesnt collapse.

undefinedprocess wrote:Hmm… Do y’all think it being open will last..?

potatocoins wrote::shock: Why are people climbing over the edge?? Ugh..

Tnexster wrote:So is anybody using the walkways?

Tivo_Kenevil wrote:Yeah I've used em. They're alright, kinda a luxury. it's rather noisy but the views are nice. I posted some picks on the discord server. The infrastructure, sidewalks to reach the walkways don't even exist on beckley. So half assed in typical Dallas fashion.

quixomniac wrote:

Tivo_Kenevil wrote:Yeah I've used em. They're alright, kinda a luxury. it's rather noisy but the views are nice. I posted some picks on the discord server. The infrastructure, sidewalks to reach the walkways don't even exist on beckley. So half assed in typical Dallas fashion.

Sidewalks to the walkways on Beckley?
There are NO walkways on the Riverfront end. Nothing. None existent.
It renders that side of the bridge useless to anyone other than bikers riding in crowds to protect themselves from speeding cars to get onto the bridge ramps.

My thinking for the sidewalks on Beckley, they dont want people parking in the immediate area, trespassing on other property to get on the walkway. Just park at Trinity Overlook park and walk on the levees. It's manageable. I figure they are waiting on someone building something on those empty/abandoned lots before they bother with sidewalks.

quixomniac wrote:

Tivo_Kenevil wrote:My thinking for the sidewalks on Beckley, they dont want people parking in the immediate area, trespassing on other property to get on the walkway. Just park at Trinity Overlook park and walk on the levees. It's manageable. I figure they are waiting on someone building something on those empty/abandoned lots before they bother with sidewalks.

potatocoins wrote:Thanks for sharing, that all sounds good to me. We're still in the very early stages of this area being re-developed, but I'm glad some forethought is being put into all of this to make it more bike/pedestrian friendly.

I honestly expected this type of transformation to happen around the Ronald Kirk Pedestrian Bridge shortly after that opened up, but that doesn't seem to have had much of an impact on the developing area (at least not that I have noticed).

undefinedprocess wrote:Not as of yet, but I think that "impact" will come as Trinity Groves densifies and goes vertical. I'd expect any development around there to try and tie in/connect to it.

cowboyeagle05 wrote:Look at it this way yes we could have built miles of walkway along the levees with a lot of political wrangling before a single apartment building went vertical but it would have been complained about as being wasteful for an area that will never be valuable land etc. When they first built the first Calatrava bridge I heard so much family complaining about building a bridge to nowhere. So instead we waited until development actually showed up and now we can stich development together with a plan for sidewalks that connect actual places people are starting to live. Honestly we can be upset on either side of the coin here. Either way some of us are gonna be upset and annoyed the city didn't do its job fast enough or wasted tax money on trails for bikers when the roads are so bad through here.

tamtagon wrote:The views of downtown will make south bank development an easy sell.

tamtagon wrote:The flood way corridor needs at least one more of these signature public art bridges. An odd number of structures is ideal.

tamtagon wrote:McDermott bridge design is pleasantly utilitarian, beautiful, the function is ridiculous.

The flood way corridor needs at least one more of these signature public art bridges. An odd number of structures is ideal.

itsjrd1964 wrote:If there were a planned/funded 3rd bridge, IMO the logical spot would have been I-35E's crossing of the Trinity. But oh well.

undefinedprocess wrote:

itsjrd1964 wrote:If there were a planned/funded 3rd bridge, IMO the logical spot would have been I-35E's crossing of the Trinity. But oh well.

Would have to agree with this, and have really wanted such a thing to come to fruition. Would be very curious to see what sort of design would come about for such a project. Kinda feel like it'd need to be another Calatrava to go with the other two... Real issue then becomes finding another Margaret...

undefinedprocess wrote:

itsjrd1964 wrote:If there were a planned/funded 3rd bridge, IMO the logical spot would have been I-35E's crossing of the Trinity. But oh well.

Would have to agree with this, and have really wanted such a thing to come to fruition. Would be very curious to see what sort of design would come about for such a project. Kinda feel like it'd need to be another Calatrava to go with the other two... Real issue then becomes finding another Margaret...