Vision for Trinity River project unfolds
Dallas Morning News, The (TX)
February 24, 1999
Author: Robert Ingrassia; Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News
Estimated printed pages: 2

Trinity River advocates perused an ambitious vision for the neglected waterway Tuesday night that includes sculpted downtown lakes, arched bridges and waterfront promenades.
The conceptual plans are works in progress by Halff Associates, a Dallas firm hired by the city for $1.5 million to create a master plan for river redevelopment.

"People over the years have seen so much and thought so much about what can happen with the Trinity River, and now we're starting to put images on what people have dreamed," said Jim Carrillo, Halff's director of planning.

Halff unveiled the concepts at a meeting of the Trinity River Corridor Citizens Committee, a volunteer group that is helping shape various river projects. Residents can offer their opinions and ideas during a series of public meetings that begins next week.

None of the ideas came with projected price tags. Several of the ideas, the bridges in particular, are not included in an existing 15-year, $1.2 billion plan to remake the Trinity and improve downtown freeways.

Still, Trinity plan supporters said the city needs to dream big.

"For the amount of money the taxpayers are investing, we need to do something that has real imagination and creativity," said Craig Holcomb, the Trinity committee chairman.

But some opponents of the city's river plan said Halff's ideas show that the costs of Trinity development are escalating.

"The more we spend for the Trinity's skyrocketing expenses, the less that's going to be available for the city's basic needs," said Ned Fritz, founder of the environmental group Texas Committee on Natural Resources and a member of the river committee.

Halff officials presented several ideas for lakes along the river. Some plans called for rectangular lakes along the river channel. Another idea was to split the river channel and put lakes in the middle. Also pitched was a lake created by damming the Trinity.

All the plans include sizable lakes, ranging from about 100 acres (the size of Bachman Lake) to hundreds of acres.

The city has $31.5 million set aside for lake construction. The money was part of a $246.5 million river bond referendum that Dallas voters approved May 2.

The lake ideas shared the stage Tuesday night with bridge plans. Halff officials presented the work of Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, who created a small model of how several Trinity River bridges could be rebuilt.

Mr. Calatrava's vision calls for a series of arch bridges, including a tri-arch Woodall Rodgers Bridge from downtown over the Trinity into West Dallas.

The Woodall extension is scheduled to begin in 2001 and be completed by late 2003. City officials have said they want the state, which is responsible for the project, to construct a "signature bridge" that stands out from typical freeway spans.
  Caption:
PHOTO(S): (The Dallas Morning News: Russell Bronson) Aroid Neal, a designer for Dallas, inspects a rendering of a Trinity River lake proposal. Mr. Neal was attending a meeting Tuesday for those interested in the project, which is being planned by Halff Associates, a firm contracted by the city.
Section:  NEWS; ARLINGTON
Page:  6A
Dateline:  DALLAS
Copyright 1999 Arlington Morning News
Record Number:  4035181