The City Expects That By December 2012, You'll Be Able to Hike n' Bike the Santa Fe Trestle

Sam's at the Trinity River Corridor Project Committee meeting -- lucky! (Too bad he don't liveblog like Andrea.) But whilst on the subject, let's look ahead to next week's council meeting, when the city will finally move forward on a project that been years in the making: construction of the...

By Robert Wilonsky

May 18, 2010

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Sam's at the Trinity River Corridor Project Committee meeting -- lucky! (Too bad he don't liveblog like Andrea.) But whilst on the subject, let's look ahead to next week's council meeting, when the city will finally move forward on a project that been years in the making: construction of the Santa Fe Trestle Hike and Bike Trail. A couple of months ago, the city put out a call for bids and came up with one it likes courtesy Massana Construction Inc., which says it can carry out Halff Associate's design at the low, low price of $5,575,149.

Right -- you're wondering where the money's coming from. Well, remember how, back in November, the city submitted to the Texas Department of Transportation a list of "non-traditional transportation projects" it thought worthy of the federal funds via the Transportation Enhancement Program? In February, the feds said, "Sounds good!" and agreed to dole out $3,547,603, which means the city's only on the hook for the remaining $2,027,546, which'll come out of 1998 bond funds (from which Halff was paid its more than $1.4 million).

The trestle trail's always been part of the Trinity Master Plan -- it'll overlook the Standing Wave, in case you've forgotten -- and, per the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, "provide bicycle and pedestrian access across the Trinity River to Moore Park, the future Trinity Levee Trails, DART services, Fair Park, and the Dallas Zoo." According to council docs, construction's supposed to begin in June and wrap just in time for the holiday season 2012. Merry Christmas!

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