Trinity River

The Trinity Toll Road Just Keeps Rolling on the River

The highway between the levees is the Christopher Lee of bad ideas.

Proposed Frack Site on Trinity River Floodplain Will Include a Gas Processing Plant

Trinity East intends to sink natural gas wells in the Trinity River floodplain, but it isn't the well pad itself that will consume most of that controversial real estate -- it's the natural gas processing plant they plan to set up right next to it. According to site plans for the Elm Fork lease, T ... More >>

Audubon Center, Other Trinity Sites Would Be Better if City Gives Up that Bird-brained Road

A couple of days ago The Dallas Morning News reported that the new Audubon Center, a vaunted jewel in the tiara of the Trinity River project, is sucking wind already, failing to attract the visitors and income the city had hoped for. Being mean to bird-watchers is difficult even for me, but I can ... More >>

Killing the Trinity Toll Road Could Be the Best Bargain in Big D

Several of you have asked me to explain a point in my column in this week's newspaper about the Trinity River toll road and why it may be unstoppable. Sorry. Should have done it in the column. And as it turns out, I had this wrong on two scores, one more important than the other. I say in the pape ... More >>

Finally, We Nail the Real Reason Dallas Needs That Trinity Toll Road

OK, look, just see if you can follow me here, because I need to know if I am following myself. You tell me. Michael Morris, a regional transportation official who gets quoted, has always said we need to build a new super-highway along the Trinity River, walling it off from downtown, because the new ... More >>

Turning the Trinity into Something Magical Doesn't Require a Bridge, It Needs You

Vonciel Jones Hill Asks Fellow Council Members to "Catch the Vision" of Texas Horse Park

​In the end, the council's Economic Development Committee didn't want to talk about economic impact studies or debate the risk of sinking $12 million into a project where its partner fell millions short when it came to raising matching funds. In the end, most of its members wanted to make it clear ... More >>

On Flood Control, Dallas Better Think Nationally or Be Ready to Drown Locally

Man, talk about whistling past the graveyard. At yesterday's Dallas City Council meeting, council members Tennell Atkins and Delia Jasso asked good questions about the city's flood control plans, and City Manager Mary Suhm and her assistant, Jill Jordan, gave good answers. But it was all deck chairs ... More >>

Take a Long Walk Along the Belleview Connector in This Very Animated Rendering

Way back in May we took a long, hard look at HALFF Associates designer Francois de Kock's Belleview Connector, a proposed bridge -- and "dramatic icon" -- that might one day link Riverfront Boulevard to Jack Matthews's South Side of Lamar. One day. Maybe. Last I looked, which was a while ago, the ... More >>

What Does City Hall Have to Say About Levee Report? No. Really. I'm Asking.

​This is Day Two of Trinity River levee stories from me, which I realize is Day Too Many, but ... well, sorry. I'm just sorry about it, but I cannot let this moment pass without making an observation. Possibly an observation and a half. It'll be over quickly. First, half an observation. I sta ... More >>

The Standing Wave on the Trinity River Stands Ready to Wash Away More of Your Dough

​Somewhere in the saga of the Dallas Wave, formerly known as the Standing Wave, there is sanity. Things happen for a reason. I take this as an article of faith, but my faith is sorely tested by the wave. The standing wave is a manmade rapids in the Trinity River downriver from downtown that t ... More >>

Why Do We Want to See the Trinity Corridor Project Records? What Else is There to See?

​Yesterday on Unfair Park Patrick Williams posted an item reporting that the city of Dallas is going to court to sue rather than follow the instructions of the Texas Attorney General to release basic information to the Dallas Observer about the money the city has spent so far on the Trinity Ri ... More >>

No Paddling Allowed on Trinity River Paddling Trail. Which, Come to Think of It, Is So Dallas.

​Thank goodness. Finally reached Judy Schmidt, marketing director for the city's Trinity River Corridor Project, to ask about tomorrow's grand opening of the Trinity River Paddling Trail. I had been trying to reach her since last week to ask if she was going to warn people they might be killed. Bu ... More >>

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

The city spent millions on a kayaking park that almost no one can use -- and the money's still flowing.

If You Want an Up-Close Look at What's Supposed to Run Along the Trinity One Day

​If you're headed down to Earth Day Dallas, which begins right about now in downtown and runs through tomorrow, you're invited to check out the mammoth map of the Trinity River Corridor Project that'll be on display between Booker T. and the AT&T Performing Arts Center. (Above, that's just a p ... More >>

Why, Those Waves Aren't Standing At All

Speaking of the Trinity River Corridor Project ...When the boy and I visited the Standing Wave -- or The Dallas Wave, as it'll be known -- about a month ago, it had been a long while since it had rained. Kayakers said the Trinity was as low as they'd seen it in a long while. Then came Monday's early ... More >>

Ed Okpa on the Trinity River Toll Road And Why He's Never Mentioned in The Dallas News

Edward Okpa​Since last week's piece in The News about David Kunkle, Ron Natinsky and Mike Rawlings's thoughts on the Trinity River toll road is behind the pay levee, allow me to summarize: Natinsky's still very much for it; Kunkle's ain't at all interested, and Rawlings is taking the ol' wait-n-se ... More >>

The Art of Moving Sculpture

​On our way back from an early-morning Trinity River outing yesterday (more about that tomorrow), we happened past the Trammell Crow Center on Ross. The boy wondered why there was a giant horse in the street; his mother, a former art-history major, explained that's a sculpture by Antoine Bourdelle ... More >>

What Remains of Project Pegasus, For Now: Two Bridges. Says Hunt, This is Leppert's "Disaster."

This is the Margaret McDermott signature bridge. And it's not part of TxDOT's plans to replace the I-30 bridge over the Trinity.​To follow up this morning's item on Project Pegasus, which has been all but left for dead on the side of the Mixmaster ...I spoke earlier today with Bill Hale, P.E., the ... More >>

Today's Edition of The News Is Caught Between a Rock Island Street and a Hard Place

​There's a great story by Steve Thompson on Page One of The Dallas Morning News today about old industrial businesses on Rock Island Street, a quaint one-block lane tucked between the Trinity River levee and Lamar Street a mile due south of downtown. Several businesses there are fighting to keep C ... More >>

Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson: The Latest In A Long Line Of Pols To Dance To The Mayor's Tune For The Trinity River Project.

Note to Park and Rec: Now Might Be a Good Time to Scrub Down Trammell Crow's Cows

​Speaking of the Trinity River and the levees (though, really, when are we not?) ...Late Saturday afternoon, the 6-year-old who lives in my house and I were heading home after a long day spent digging through dusty relics in the Antiques and Design District. I'd wanted to check out Lula B's West, ... More >>

Down On The Banks

We Need a Boatload of Money for the Trinity, and It Ain't Coming from Washington

That Makes Two Administrations in a Row Not Fond of Funding the Trinity River Project

Patrick MichelsRemember the levee collapse in December? Sure you do.​Interesting story inside The Dallas Morning News today about cuts in the federal budget for the Dallas Trinity River levee project. I'm not saying The News story is any kind of propaganda. Just saying there's more there than meet ... More >>

Maybe You Can Help the City Decide How to Spend $3 Million in Trinity Bond Money

Around here, Schutze is known as "The Trinity Beacon."​Back in 1998, 38,016 voters OK'd Proposition 11 -- otherwise known as the $246 million that was supposed to get the Trinity River Corridor Project up and running, like I need to tell you. Anyway. Three million of that money was supposed to go ... More >>

While Waiting for Corps' Report on Calatrava Bridge, a View from the Collapsed Levee

Photos by Patrick MichelsCrews are out at this very moment trying to repair a section of the Trinity River levees that collapsed yesterday.​Pins and needles here.At 2:30 pm the Corps of Engineers releases its report on the city's proposed fix for the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. They're doing it no ... More >>

If Nothing Else, the Trinity River Corridor Project Inspires Some Awfully Nice Photos

Paul Sokal's grand-prize winner in the city's Trinity River Photo Contest​Meranda Cohn at Dallas City Hall directs our attention to the winning photos from the Trinity River Photo Contest, for which our pal Allison V. Smith was one of the four judges. You can view as either a PDF or a PowerPoint. ... More >>

Catch a Trinity Standing Wave, and You're Sittin' On Top of the World

This morning's quiz: a conceptual rendering of the Standing Wave project in the Trinity River, or a hotel-room painting?​The city wasn't kidding around about fast-tracking the Trinity Standing Wave whitewater-maker: Less than two months after the $3-million project resurfaced in a Trinity River Co ... More >>

Apparently, It's Too Wet to Fish the Trinity

Flickr user: Dallas1200am​Speaking of the Trinity River ...Bad news for those expecting to fish the river this week for cash and prizes: We got word from Dallas City Hall late last night that the Trinity Commons Foundation has canceled the Carpe Diem Classic Fishing Tournament and Fun River Paddle ... More >>

Do You Dare Fish the Trinity?

One day, of course, you will be able to fish the Trinity River from the comforts of a solar-powered water taxi.​When Jim's not designing Dallas Area Rapid Transit light-rail routes through downtown or lunching with John Wiley Price, he can be found most days fishing from the banks of the Trinity R ... More >>

Steel Yourself: Next Month, An All-Star Party to Celebrate "Bridging the Trinity"

Sam MertenTurns out, we'd like to take back everything we ever said about that Trinity River Corridor Project model. It was accurate after all.​The steel for the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge's been down by the Trinity River for, oh, a few days at least -- I breathlessly ogled the two cylinders, each ... More >>

Ooooh, Shiny: There Won't Be a Trinity Toll Road For a While, So a Photo Contest Instead!

Patrick MichelsOne of our submissions for the Trinity River Project photo contest. Pay up, city.Meant to get to this yesterday, when Dallas City Hall first sent word, but was otherwise distracted -- the whole point, perhaps, of this city-sponsored Trinity River photo contest for which we'd like to s ... More >>

What You Missed While the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge Construction Webcam Was Out

Patrick MichelsThe Trinity River creeps up on the Margearet Hunt Hill Bridge construction site.This was the scene at the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge construction site not too long ago, shot right in the thick of the last big downpour before the morning's storm cleared out.The Trinity River looked as m ... More >>

Plan B From Outer Space: Hunt Says It's Time to Get Going on Project Pegasus, S.M. Wright

If no one else is going to use it, I'm calling my new band Solar-Powered Water Taxi.Over the weekend, council member Angela Hunt posted to her blog a Schutze-quoting essay in which, yet again, she calls for a Trinity River Corridor Project Plan B that allows the city to fix the levees while moving f ... More >>

Would somebody just tell Mayor Leppert? His Trinity River toll road doesn’t have a prayer.

At Some Point, Maybe, the Council Will Run Out of Trinity Parkway Alignments to Approve

Patrick MichelsToday's meeting of the Dallas City Council's Trinity River committee -- during which the committee endorsed this alignment for the proposed Trinity River toll road - was dull and uneventful in ways that were of keen interest to trained Kremlinologists. By observing which members of th ... More >>

Caution Bordering on Gloom at Last Night's Soul-Sapping Trinity Toll Road Hearing

Patrick MichelsDuring last night's hearing, Angela Hunt tweeted that "the NTTA & TXDOT are still doing their slideshow. Mind-numbing. They shoulda done this earlier so there'd be more time for public comment."Last night's four-hour "hearing" on the Trinity River toll road was one big toothache ... More >>

Word of the Day: Desiccation

More from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Trinity River floodway report released todayJim's opted to wait till the a.m. to post concerning the Corps' report, but his quick take: "The worse gets worser." Sam's also got priceless video coming early Thursday. Which gives everyone time to get their he ... More >>

Angela Hunt's Trinity Corridor Plan B

The ride in to work this morning on the solar-powered water taxi was smooth sailing -- highly recommended!Last week, Angela Hunt was close to posting on her Web site a Trinity River Corridor Project Plan B -- the name of Jim Schutze's new band, so happens. Instead, she fleshed it out with a flash-fo ... More >>

Somewhere, John Stemmons Sr. Is Shaking His Bony Fist and Laughing His Ass Off

Click the image to read the letter that more or less began the Trinity River Corridor Project in 1974.By now I'm way way too deep into the story of the Trinity River Corridor Project. I have actually developed a kind of side interest -- a hobby, maybe -- involving the history of the Trinity River P ... More >>

Trinity Project Director Says, "We've Always Been Upfront That This is a Risk." Say Wha?

Rebecca Dugger, director of the Trinity River Corridor ProjectSchutze and Merten are on vacation today, which means no one's going to Mayor Tom Leppert's Trinity River Corridor Project summit this morning on the 69th (heh) floor of the Bank of America building downtown. Schutze, though, did ask for ... More >>

Corps Warns that Trinity River Levees Pose a Flood Risk to Downtown, but is City Hall Listening?

So Much For Hope and Change: A "Catalyst for Redevelopment" Along the Trinity is Sinking

All that land you see at right marked "SITE" was supposed to be the location of Irving-based JPI's Trinity River development -- about 60.5 acres' worth of residential, retail, offices, restaurants and everything else you could stuff into a billion-dollar mixed-use development. The city was counting ... More >>

Trinity River Corridor Project Creeps On, 10 Years and Millions of Dollars Later

In the Rezone, or: How to Transform the Land Around the Trinity River Project

Toll You So

The Trinity River Project should be floating right along. Instead it's sinking under the weight of its own folly.

One Trinity Item Is on the Fast Track, At Least

"Post-Industrial Boulevard"? Love It.

"When the Levee Breaks, You Can Use the HOV Lane."