The Trinity River's 'Standing Wave' Crashes into Reality

Please have someone who knows anything about hydraulics and/or whitewater rewrite this article. I've been a whitewater rafting guide on the Arkansas River in Colorado and an avid whitewater kayaker for 10 years. In the winter I major in Civil Engineering with an emphasis on open channel hydraulics and three-dimensional modeling.

I kayaked this wave at around 4000 cfs, and yes, it is a class II rapid *cue screaming from corny 80's horror film*. If there isn't a good chance that a canoe will flip over in a playwave, then it is a really crappy playwave. Out of the few man-made playwaves in Texas, this is definitely the best. The hydraulics caused by the confluence currents after the first wave are the most aggressive part and I assure you that they are the same hydraulic feature that appear behind any bridge column. 

Would I wear a pfd (life jacket) if I were canoeing this? absolutely, but I also use a pfd on lake livingston. The fact that anyone would consider this rapid is any more dangerous than is necessary to create a playwave is ridiculous. Saying this playwave "is a disaster waiting to happen" is equivalent to saying the welcome mat on your front door is a deathtrap because someone could trip. 

One thing that no one really brought up so far that I've seen is that the playwave is actually good for the environment. The COD levels in this section of the trinity are high because it's in the middle of the city, this playwave continuously raises the DO levels. English: the playwave provides more oxygen for the fish which is a big deal here. 

I have been down to the trinity wave 3 times. I am an avid white water kayaker and my opinion is to think twice before making a play hole in toilet water. The wave is just not worth getting sick over. I agree that the media has been way too skeptical, however, you have to face the facts. There are no mountains anywhere near Dallas. Any type of attempted white water will never be popular here. Most people here have never even heard of kayaking. Despite how happy I was when I first learned of its existence, I think it was a huge wast of time and money building it in a city like this.

What a terrible job you have done reprting this issue. You have made texas an even crappier state. This park is awesome and the kayakers in texas would love to paddle it...so what if some families have to buy pfd's for their kids....it's totally flat below the wave...the feature is class 2 at worst, and your news organization is responsible for getting it closed. Most parks use concrete to make their features in one way or another...you are totally ignorant.

its amazing that we can spend 4million dollars on something that doesnt work in Dallas , but we wont spend one nickel here in Dallas for a place for the homeless to stay.......

Imagine if 6 year olds performed surgeries, that is exactly the amount of intelligence behind this article. Move on, write about things you are familiar with like hop scotch and tic tac toe.

I agree with Matt and the majority of the posted comments. Thanks for the hissy fit

This article is a perfect example of how a completely biased personal view with publishing power can be used to demonstrably slander something very few people have had the opportunity to experience or formulate their own opinions on. Honestly this park constitutes a piece in the commitment Dallas is trying to make to recreationists and the overall quality of life of the city. It is really a unique opportunity for a subset of outdoorsmen. Why should Dallas not lead the way on something like this when places like Oklahoma City and Tulsa are all at some stage of creating a playpark? I am extremely disappointed in the “easy way or the highway” point of view taken up in this article in regard to experiencing the outdoors. The avenues are available for all skill levels to take advantage or bypass this park (whether that entails playing in the rapids, taking the bypass channel, or simply portaging the park completely). I am also outraged by the portrayal of this project (through this article) as some attack on the aesthetic quality of this section of the Trinity River when this was absolutely not some beautiful undisturbed landscape prior to the Dallas Standing Wave project. The author of this article is contradictory in calling the proprietors of this project those that want to experience the river from a comfy raft with chef in tow, but then shows distort over the completely unnatural furnishings, like boulders, that are not even consistent with the geology or stream morphology of the Trinity River (and complains about a little effort to enjoy the river). This article is rampant with an under-whelming familiarity with other playparks in which boulders and rocks serve solely aesthetic purposes (or create eddys) and are largely fixed in the river with concrete, a large majority of (rivers) which are incapable of experiencing the same flow rates at which the Trinity River is capable of reaching. It also completely ignores the largely concrete facilities around the country like Pueblo (which is one of the best parks in Colorado and is actually in a drainage ditch!), the ASCII Course, the USNWC, and the numerous other man-made features that paddlers surf. Jim, you might not have “cried”, but you did a hell of a job writing a temper tantrum of an article.

I suggest those of you that have some contention with this place reserve your judgments for a trip out to the Standing Wave when it is officially opened. If nothing else, reserve it for an article that is more thoroughly representative of all the viewpoints, and is not framed through rhetoric laden attacks.

The Whitewater park is a class III feature- something almost ANYONE could float through with a lifejacket. Most people could float through it without a lifejacket (which any person who is paddling a river should have on them). I'm a class IV-V paddler, and while you might be scared by the term "hydraulic jets," you might want to understand that they exist in almost every water environment in the world. Just because you aren't familiar with the term doesn't mean they're terrible, unnatural, or unsafe. This standing wave is a huge boost to the local economy (every paddler driving to Colorado will be stopping by). I personally will being going to Dallas SOLELY to try out this new feature.

I understand that you've got beef with the people who designed the project, but I've talked to local paddlers who enjoy the wave as is. You might want to actually talk to the people who use this feature day in and day out, because so far you've only investigated one side of this story. Irresponsible journalism.

I've personally never seen this and don't have any experience with whitewater kayaking, but I talked to a rep from the Trinity River project in Fort Worth and he said it looked perfectly safe to him. Is this just another article going overboard? I'm not sure, but the very mellow and non-controversial rep I spoke with said it looked perfectly fine to him.

Another typical screwed up city government project. Why don't we let the private sector do these kinds of things so they come out right? This typifies what is wrong with everything municipal from top to bottom.

Oh yes, the last comment, when it speaks to us and floods Dallas. Folks, these are the mayors you are voting in!! They want to leave their mark and leave you broke in taxes yet we dirve on potholes and businesses are leaving as quick as they can. Do we really need a park, a bridge, and a motel? We need industry to pay for all this crap. Vote for someone that see's the future for Dallas bringing in jobs and corporations. Grow the city with business or become Detroit.

FINALLY! People are now waking up to find that a giant fraud has been perpetrated here in the form of the multi million dollar boondoggle Standing Wave park. It should have never been built where it is due to the super high e-coli levels (and the e-coli is only the tip of the iceberg when you start looking at all the pollutants in that section of the Trinity) and now on top of that, now that its finished we find out that inexperienced paddlers who just want to get past it safely mayhave to portage it? Not Good.

The whole mess could have been avoided if the City had asked for some input before designing or building it. One of the LARGEST CANOE CLUBS IN THE STATE is based right here in Dallas and NOBODY from the City ever picked up the phone and asked for any input.

The first thing that we would have pointed out is that there may be 500 paddlers tops in the DFW area that are qualified to use a standing wave like this one and of that maybe 100 or less that would actually use it on any kind of regular basis and that's if the WATER WAS NOT DESIGNATED AS UNFIT FOR CONTACT RECREATION BY THE TCEQ DUE TO HIGE ECOLI LEVELS. If they felt pressed to still spend the 4 million, they could have just written us all checks for 40 grand and saved lot of trouble.

Great. . .three things:-might want to mention that kayakers can't get closer than a third of a mile to the deathwave cause the levee road gates are most often locked -plz explain the 'fake suspension' bridge notion again, missed that logic/article-they call the guy who actually designed and who's manpower----mostly Hispanic (no dig, just a note)--except one dude with a barking collie in his ever-idling truck . . .I mean, I would have loved to work and help make the fake rocks just a little less, fake, i would have loaed to work for a guy named "Beaver"- not the beave, or the bever, just Beaver. -that's what I heard, gomavs"?""¿

4 million dollars...elected official at all levels of government are basically idiots!

Was there ever any answer from the city on why the original design that simply constricted the flow to create a long section of rolling rapids using natural gradient and faux natural looking giant boulders piered into the bedrock that blended into the native surrounding was not used as opposed to pouring a dam across the river with a straight drop off on the narrow "bypass" channel with sheer walls putruding up high above water line making the channel poorly designed for rescue and excellent for trapping the multitude of logs and debris that are deposited during flood stage to tangle in it forming a log jam was used? Why was there no public notice fo the design change? Who in the corps of engineers signed off on permit for dam affecting the navigability of the river. Where is the hydrology study and EIS? Who were the "local paddlers" supossedly consulted by the city in the design changes? Why was a construction company used that was not capable of producing the original design and a "lock dam" design used to replace the proper design? When the planned rolling rapids for all recreational boaters on the river was designed, who and why is responsible for approving a different design that would only accommodate a very small number of professional whitewater kayakers versus the wider and larger number of recreational boaters who paddle the entire 10 mile stretch of the river from sylvan boat ramp to loop 12? Why was 15 or more acres of lowland hardwood timber cut down screening Moore Park from the feature to prevent kids and other park goers from wandering down to it and getting themselves into a dangerous situation especially those who do not know how to swim and are unaware of the inherent danger? Why was rip rap in chain link boxes allowed to be used on the bypass where capsized boaters can be entangled and possibly drown.

I have canoed all sections of this river for over fifteen years as well as kayaked it and there is no question based on the shoddy design of the bypass that it is much more dangerous than the standing wave. The design looks so close to the 1904 lock dam below McCommas bluff that people unfamiliar with the river may think that the lock dam is a rapid feature but is in fact one of the most deadly features on the river. Why could the lock dam have been modified and redesigned for a safe rapid without spending 4 million dollars. When does the city plan to reinstall the coffer dam across the river to redesign and rebuild the bypass and standing wave structure. I like many was exited about having a nice small section of rapids in along the route that blended in and enhanced the natural surroundings by the 1895 historic trestle. What we got is a tragedy that can hopefully be redesigned to be safe and accommodate all of the recreational boaters on the river. A hint to the city is to reach out to people who know this river, establish a consensus from all the users, maintain an open and transparent process rather than secrecy, failure and cya statements. Let's work together to turn this failure around and have a feature that is fun for all that preserves and protects the forest and the river.

So roughly 7.8 million kayakers (2008 figure) in the U.S.13 million skateboarders.Where the fuck is my 4million dollar skatepark you assholes

My experience with canoeing is decades in the past. Yet, I could tell them that the canoe bypasses needed to be wader with a shallower descent. This sounds like a very badly designed project.

Jim Schutze thanks for bringing attention to the ‘Standing Wave’ disaster. This joke of a concrete lined pit in the river called a ‘rapid’ needs to be scrutinized a whole lot more by the residents of Dallas that paid for the feature. In the beginning the price was quoted as $6 million, now the TRCPO is trying to play it down to $4 million. The personnel at TRCPO (Trinity River Corridor project Office) perform as though this is their river and their GTF (Great Trinity Forest) and they will do and build what ever they want and the public be damned. Let’s see the hands of how many interested residents went to the open public meetings about this current plan and were able to comment on the plan? The TRCPO seem to forget who they work for as public employees.

Oh, and the concrete pit (aka. ‘Standing Wave’) is part of the larger recreation project that is the “Moore Park Gateway” in all that costs $20 million ($4-6 for the pit and $14 for the walkway). Now lets find the bond issue where this was described? Not. John Reynolds of the Park Department is in charge of the concrete pit called the ‘Standing Wave’ and Mary Ayala of the TRCPO is in charge of the concrete trail and the overall Gateway, as well as all recreation aspects of the TRCPO. The concrete walkway is another one of Ayala’s mean spirited ADA (American Disabilities Act) compliance trails (the other is the ADA Buckeye Trail over a 26 foot high flood levee at the end of Bexar street off Hwy. 175 in Rochester Park) where 26 foot high inclines are incorporated to make the trails for the disabled just to satisfy the Federal funding. I don’t know why, or how Schutze missed the concrete trail, which is an enormous more expensive concrete feature built on concrete piers sunk to bedrock winding all the way from the Moore Park area up 26 feet to the old Sante Fe historic railroad bridge and then winding down a huge concrete wall on the other side towards the city levee and a small basin excavated for landscape aesthetics I guess. This basin will fill up with sediment in no time. The concrete wall is angled funneling debris towards the concrete pit. Why didn’t the TRCPO incorporate a renovated existing trestle into part of the trail. Part of the trestle still stands on both sides trapping debris that all along, all river controlling regulating agencies have wanted to remove what they consider an impediment. All of this and more, too long to go into here adds to congestion, build up of snags with debris, and constriction of the river at the old railroad bridge on the south side of the DART bridge. So, with the new constricted river channel, a huge 26 foot high concrete wall angling towards the concrete pit, the old trestle still in place, DART bridge piers, debris during high water flows will snag on, or fill in the concrete pit at the protruding concrete and boulder jetties. Before I forget as a side note, you know how the TRCPO always touts that these projects create local jobs? Well, this whole project (engineering, excavation, structural, concrete etc.) is being built by Massana a company out of Georgia.

Then, Schutze left out Barry Osbourne in the Regulatory Section of the CESWF (Corps of Engineers Fort Worth District) that permitted this concrete pit. This was certainly part of a Section 404 permit but carries further environmental ramifications concerning aquatic life and the river hydrology and geography. This is the Federal agency that are the stewards of the waters of the United States and regulators of navigable waters of the United States under the Rivers and Harbors Act. The concrete pit just closed the lock gate on navigability of the main stem of the Trinity river. I guess it is navigable by kayaks and perhaps a few canoeists. Oh, but portage is an option, so get out and walk if you don’t like it. Furthermore during low normal flows the flow downstream from the concrete pit is considerably slower and almost stagnant which will further impact aquatic life downstream of the feature. Even though I am on their notification list, to my knowledge the CESWF never put out any NOI (Notice Of Intent) or their normal regulatory Public Notice that describes the project plan for review. I won’t go into the danger of the ‘bypass channel Charles Allen and Schutze covered that pretty well bringing out the dangers. Except that, back in July 2010 when no one knew they were building this feature the contractor built a bypass channel with soil banks much wider than the finished concrete lined bypass channel. Five canoeists with previous experience were all caught in the bypass channel and overturned loosing all of their belongings, and one individual caught his shoulder on an impediment and was injured.

For some reason a ‘white water‘ or some type of kayak feature has been part of the Trinity River Project recreation plan since back in 1998 and has morphed many times. It is interesting or perhaps mystifying why such a small interest group such as kayakers can get the TRCPO to spend $4-6 million on the concrete lined pit and other larger groups can’t even get trail markers for a hiking trail and other amenities. The present vapid rapid backs the water up behind the first damn noticeably all the way to Sylvan slowing the flow. Many large gravel bars (ie. upstream from the Continental bridge) are now inundated. The gravel bars supported various types of freshwater mollusks and fish that prefer more oxygenated water. The first dam under the old railroad bridge constricts the width of the river to ca. 50 feet wide, then the water cascades over a concrete ‘slide of over 10 feet before the churning toe where a kayaker in the “You Tube” video in his ‘rubber duck‘ six foot long kayak does rolls in the water. Woohoo!

The feature is suppose to open Saturday but has been postponed citing the other danger of the other construction of the concrete trail This is a lie, it won’t open until August or September while the city tries to ameliorate the hazardous concrete pit and that will cost quite a bit more.

It is strange that the City Forester and the same City Park Department that errs on the side of safety where they will cut down a live healthy four foot diameter 135+ year old pecan tree that grew in a nearby park. It was cut down because it had a cavity up 25 feet high in the trunk that was perceived as a danger such that the tree may fall and hurt someone. But that same department will build and defend something as dangerous as the concrete pit is insanity, desperate, and a waste of money.

"If the kids didn't have life jackets on, they might drown." I think putting children in a canoe without life jackets and taking them on still water, much less through visible rapids, is criminal stupidity that has nothing to do with the safety or lack thereof of the bypass.

Portaging is not for little people. Canoes are heavy and awkward. The correct way to carry them is over your shoulders making your vision somewhat impaired in watching the little people who might have been in the middle of your canoe along for the ride, not paddling. They may not be able to carry all the "stuff" you carried in the canoe forcing you to leave some where you grounded yourself. Then you'll have to go back and get it.

Do you take the kids with you for the long walk back and forth so they won't be kidnapped? We portaged extensively in Northern Wisconsin and Minnesota and up in the Boundry waters in Canada/Minnesota back in the 50's when we were fit female teen Girl Scouts with no males around.

Charles Allen is hardly the "city's resident expert on Trinity River canoeing. In fact, he probably can't paddle a Class II rapid and sells himself to the public as a "professional guide". He's just complaining because he thinks it will hurt his personal business when in fact it might help it. Sounds like Charles thinks he owns the Trinity and his opinion is the only one that matters.

I've paddled the waves 8 or 10 times at levels from 3000 cfs down to 400 cfs. I know what it does and doesn't do at all these levels. I've shot pictures and footage to document it.

Fact is, it's as safe as any man-made park in the country. It's got built in take-outs for portaging as well as the by-pass channels. Sure, people can flip over in their water craft. People drown on lakes if they don't follow general water safety guidelines like wearing a PFD, etc.

Here is my blog with a report on the safety testing we conducted with swimmers, inner-tubes, canoes, boogie boards and kayaks.

http://www.dallasobserver.com/...

I've heard way more positive about this than negative and I'm sure that will bear out once it is officially open. See you on the river, Charles!

Shutes-

It’s disappointing to read yet another negative article about something that is so positive and exciting for the City of Dallas. The article is written with absolute bias and an agenda. What happened to the objective article? Why weren’t any paddlers quoted saying something positive? While there may be some naysayers, there are even more who are enthusiastic about The Dallas Wave.When reading your article, I came across some points that are inaccurate. While yes, The Dallas Wave does require a skilled paddler, the bypass channel isn’t as dangerous as you say. Nonetheless, there are some facts that are incorrect:

Incorrect: The Standing Wave

The current official title is The Dallas Wave.

Incorrect: The Dallas Wave was designed and created by “with no community involvement or consultation, driven entirely by people whose idea of a river experience is rafting down the Colorado with a guide, a chef and a guitarist."

The City of Dallas worked with local paddlers to create a wave for the paddling community and Dallas citizens. There were meetings with designers, architects and paddlers for more than a year - The City did a great job to include people who would use the wave in the design process.

Incorrect:“Construction is finished and a grand opening is scheduled for May 7”

The grand opening will not be till later this year. The area around The Dallas Wave, which you considered “ugly,” is not complete. By the time of the actual opening, it will be alive and ready for people to enjoy.

I wish there was something like this years ago in Dallas, and I cannot wait till it is opened.

Uh, if you don't like the looks of the bypass channels, bypass them. Paddling straight through the main drops is a piece of cake. (actually, so are the bypass channels, but don't take my word for it, i've only done it a few dozen times. How many have you, Jim? Charles?)

"...what used to be one of the most inviting stretches of the river..."

Wha...? Wait, every time I've ever been down there it has been a ghost town. I don't think ANYONE has EVER been down there except the guys who built the Dart Rail crossing. Ugly? Let's talk relativity here. This used to be two dirt banks under a rusted out abandoned rail trestle that hundreds of thousands of people have ignored while driving over the Corinth St Viaduct. Now at least it's getting some attention. Mission accomplished.

If we put in the time and effort, the community could take back this project. There is no reason why a group of people couldn't organize events along the floodplain.

In fact, there is one next weekend - The Trinity Wind Festival.

Once the city sees people investing in the space, some city leaders will take more interest in making small, community based improvements, rather than large, wasteful master plans and ego projects.

This is top-notch reporting. And the inclusion of Charles Allen is brilliant. He's logged more hours on the Trinity than anyone--yet, he's the last person officials ever want to hear from.

This might be a good time to put up some suicide crisis hotline numbers around the bypass channel so folks have a chance to talk it through with knowledgeable personnel before entering Whitewater Cuisinart™.

How did Dallas come to be cursed by such inept, mendacious leaders?

I'm pretty sure the dumbest people on the planet are in charge of Dallas.

Holy negativity!

Is there that many kayakers in Dallas to warrent this thing? I mean there may be I'm not sure. Here's an idea why not spend less than half of what they spent for this thing and install a couple of nice disc golf courses. I know there are a lot of disc golfers out there and disc golf is a great family activity. Just a thought.

The most important information in this sad, sad, story...."If the kids didn't have life jackets on, they might drown. If they did have life jackets on, they would still get pushed underwater in one of the most toxic rivers in the state."

Something for Dallas to be proud of.