On Friday we took a ride down Cedar Crest Boulevard over the Trinity, which the city's spending millions to makeover as a half-vehicular, half-hike-n-bike bridge -- but not before Jason Roberts and the Better Block-ers set up a temporary show-and-tell one week from Saturday, this one billed as the first-ever Better Bridge project. The newly minted flier for the event provides more details about the October 22 event: It's brief (three hours, from 10 a.m. till 1 p.m.); a city of Dallas-Team Better Block-Halff Associates-Landscape Forms joint; and parking will be available at 11st Street and Cedar Crest (right by Oak Cliff Metals!) for those who aren't biking in between Oak Cliff to-do's that day.
As Brent Brown of the City Hall-based CityDesign Studio noted last week, the event on the 22nd will also give folks an early look at Halff's plans for the Cedar Crest, for which the city paid, oh, $550,000. But over on Team Better Block, and now above, is a conceptual rendering of at least one of the options under consideration -- one Roberts and his folks cooked up to make the project, you know, less expensive and "more of a destination," as he tells Unfair Park today. "And since there's actually money available, if everybody buys into the vision of it being a destination, we could do make this permanent in short order -- like, right now."
Also: Friend of the show Wanda Dye, the UTA architecture prof responsible for the food court at the Better Ross Avenue event and the public square fashioned out of an abandoned South Oak Cliff gas station, passes along word today that Roberts and the Better Bridge-ers are looking for folks who want to help construct the temporary what-nots in advance of the Cedar Crest event. There's a workshop involved:
On October 22nd, we'll be taking a bridge in South Dallas and converting two of the car lanes to a wide bike and pedestrian esplanade complete with bike lanes, outdoor street furniture, food, lighting and more to show how our bridges can be turned into great destinations. We're holding open house construction sessions at our warehouse in West Dallas this Thursday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., where we'll be building planters, benches and more from reclaimed wood materials. We'll have food and drinks on hand for anyone interested in helping with the project. Our inspiration for this endeavor is New York City's High Line Park. ... Thank you for helping us make a better city!And Roberts promises: beer.
