U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The Corps Should Make Up Its Mind About the Levees and Explain Itself

The Power of Lobbying: Trinity Levees Are Unsafe SUPER Safe, the Corps Says Now

OK, wait, wait, before we start the party, can I ask a couple questions? Could we maybe just try to put ourselves in a global context first? In July, 2011, the city of Copenhagen was ravaged by the worst flood in recorded history, rated by scientists as a "1,000-year" flood, meaning it could be ex ... More >>

Trinity East Says Its Floodplain Fracking Plans Are Kosher With the Army Corps of Engineers

Join Unfair Park once again as we delve into the deep and thorny question: Where exactly can the fracking company Trinity East drill for natural gas in the city of Dallas? Today's episode: The Corps of the Matter. A

City Agrees to Repay U.S. Army Corps of Engineers $7 Million (And, If Need Be, More)

​Back in September it was revealed that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants back $15 million it gave to the city for the Dallas Floodway Extension project, insisting those federal funds were improperly advanced beginning with the first payment made back in '04. In the words of Col. Richard J. M ... 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 >>

Dear Corps of Engineers: Save the Fancy Talk and Just Tell Us If We Should Build an Ark

​All right, class, today our lesson is: "Logical Wormholes and Semantic Corkscrews: Translating the Language of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Into More or Less Plain English, or, You Know, Spanish. Whatever. Language How People Talk." But first an ironclad guarantee. This is not a homework ... More >>

Life's Cheap. Levees Aren't.

Corps of Engineers and city struggle to balance flood protection's costs versus the value of not drowning.

What a Litttle Protection Between Friends? Corps, City Differ Over Levees Safety Standards.

​Wow. I think Dallas Assistant City Manager Jill Jordan broke a major national story at today's meeting of the Dallas City Council Trinity River Corridor Project committee. She told the committee that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- the quasi-military agency in charge of the nation's flood con ... More >>

Cowabungle: Corps of Engineers Says Don't Blame Them for That Effed-Up Dallas Wave

​I have been dealing with both the city and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in recent weeks seeking answers to questions about the "Dallas Wave" or "Standing Wave" man-made rapids that the city has installed in the Trinity River just downriver from downtown. It was intended to be a recreation ... More >>

Dave Neumann's Positively Glowing Trinity River Corridor Project Update

The proposed Margaret McDermott Bridge, about which city and TxDOT officials have differing views​As we mentioned below, city and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials have called a 1:30 p.m. press conference to announce that more than likely, the Corps will sooner than later sign off on plans to ... More >>

Trinity Levee Repairs on Track to Beat FEMA's Deadline, But Corps Stresses Approval "Cannot Be Guaranteed"

Photos by Sam MertenTrinity Trust Foundation chair Margaret McDermott Cook says Dallasites will be running from her as fund-raising for the Trinity project resumes.​It was all smiles and back-slapping this afternoon as the city, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Trinity River Corridor Project p ... More >>

Could It Be ... Solar-Powered Water Taxis? Nah. Just "Significant News" About Trinity Levees.

​City Hall just sent word: Tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. in the Flag Room, Mayor Dwaine Caraway, Trinity River Corridor Project Committee Chairman Dave Neumann and representatives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Trinity Trust Foundation and Trinity Commons Foundation will hold a press conference to a ... More >>

It's a diary of a mad year as Buzz recalls a P.O.'d 2010.

Dallas City Fathers And The Army Corps Of Engineers Don't Speak The Same Language When It Comes To the Levees.

The Horror, The Horror Behind the Latest Trinity River Piece in Dallas's Only Daily

​Trinity River Project stories are The Dallas Morning News on mescaline. The city's only daily does so well with other coverage. But then they drop one of those Trinity River tabs, and the walls go to rubber. This morning The Dallas Morning News publishes a story saying the federal share of the Tr ... More >>

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 Sant ... 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 >>

Hunt to Corps of Engineers: Really, Take Your Time With That Levee Remediation Thing

​After the jump, you'll find a letter Angela Hunt sent today to the Fort Worth District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in which she begs Troy D. Collins, the deputy district engineer, not to hurry up the approval process for the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. She wants the Corps to be as careful ... More >>

What Does Judge's Ruling Against Corps in New Orleans Mean For the Trinity Project?

​I am still trying to absorb the 189-page ruling of U.S. District Court Judge Stanwood J. Duval yesterday in the Corps of Engineers Katrina lawsuit in New Orleans, but an early read of it produces this clear and overwhelming impression: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers just took one big and bad as ... More >>

Suspense is Building? Don't Tell Jim.

​As Unfair Park has dutifully informed you, The Trinity Trust this week debuted an advertising campaign for the Calatrava signature bridge "under construction" (or not) on the Trinity River, called "Suspense is Building." Oh, yeah?The purpose is to convey the impression that all is well with the ... More >>

The City's Done Some Clean-Up Work on the Levees. But the Big Repairs? None So Far.

One of the 72 levee issued repaired: the Little Coombs Creek Conduit on the West Levee, where crap behind the flap gate prevented it from sealing. Crap removed, problem solved.​For those who didn't take a look at the Trinity River Corridor Committee briefing doc to which I linked first thing this ... More >>

The Easy Answer to the Trinity River's Levee Problems? Just Blame Katrina.

Sam MertenKevin Craig of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wasn't given a chance to speak when Mayor Leppert and other politicos announced a two-year, $29 million levee study.After Mayor Tom Leppert announced the need to pony up $29 million to study Dallas's levees resulting from "unacceptable" ratings ... More >>

Who knew sand flowed under the Trinity? Everybody but the folks building bridges there.

Yeah, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, What'd a Tree Near a Levee Ever Do To You?

One week ago today, city officials were cautioning the council not to worry -- Dallas ain't about to spend $3 million to reduce 2,800 trees along the Trinity River to firewood just because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says so. But this isn't just a Dallas issue: Friend of the show Bethany Anders ... More >>

Mo Money Mo Problems: Leppert's Got Some "Good News" for the Council About Trinity

Sam Merten In February, Mayor Tom Leppert and Kevin Craig of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- and tomorrow, they're holding a repeat performance Earlier tonight, a few of us local media members found in our respective in-boxes a draft of remarks Mayor Tom Leppert is expected to deliver Mo ... More >>

A Backward Way of Moving Forward on the Trinity

Convention Center Hotel Promoters are a Bunch of Get-Along Business Guys Who May Not Even Realize Their Own Deception

Corps Approved Bridge Without Geotechnical Data, Still Trying to Solve Sand Mystery

Sam MertenKevin Craig of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flanks Mayor Tom Leppert as he tells the press about the levees' "unacceptable" ratings.After the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released its report on the city's levees, we were baffled to learn that construction on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bri ... More >>

Report on Trinity Levees Shows A Failure of Dallas' Leadership

The latest word from the Army Corps of Engineers is sure to result in one thing: a run on rubber rafts at Costco

Enter Sand, Man

From Page 43 of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Trinity floodway reportAstute Friend of Unfair Park "Wylie H." drilled into the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' report on the Trinity River levees yesterday evening and found the real horror story that goes almost unmentioned in this morning's Dallas M ... More >>

More from the Corps: Or, Why You'll Now Think Twice About Driving I-35 Over River

Photos from the Corps' Trinity River report. You may wanna think twice about driving Stemmons over the Trinity.OK, so after the jump you'll find all the appendices from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Trinity River Floodway Report -- including all the photos and maps and cost breakdowns ("breakdown ... 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 >>

Corps of Engineers' Yogi Berra, "This Project Isn't Going to End Until It's Completed."

Courtesy the City of DallasThe Pantanal arriving in Houston with the first shipment of steel for the Margaret Hunt Hill BridgeJudy Schmidt at Dallas City Hall forwards along the following message from Mayor Tom Leppert: Till he hears otherwise, Santiago Calatrava's Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge is getti ... More >>

Mayor Tom, Unplugged

Moments ago, the city of Dallas posted a little more than eight minutes' worth of video from the mayor's press conference Tuesday, during which he and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers representatives discussed the "unacceptable" rating given some parts of the Trinity River's levee system. As Jim and Sam ... More >>

Getting to No | Eat Less Live Longer

Corps' Attention to Detail Could Jeopardize More Than Just the Toll Road. The Whole Effin' Trinity Project Could Die!

flickr member: puuikibeachThe entire Trinity River Corridor Project, including the Texas Horse Park, is tied to the approval of the toll road by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. At least, that's what proponents of the Trinity Turnpike want you to believe."Attention to detail delays Army Corps of E ... More >>

Better Now Than Never, the City Council's Gonna Get a Civics Lesson Tomorrow

Here we are, one full decade -- 10 years, count 'em, one-10th of a century -- into the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and City Of Dallas's Trinity River Corridor Project, and tomorrow the city council's Trinity River Corridor Project Committee has a briefing scheduled that I would summarize as, "The C ... More >>

Under Pressure: Angela Hunt Sends a Letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Hunt with State Senator Royce West in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the Obama inaugurationUnfair Park today received a missive Angela Hunt sent on Wednesday to General Kenneth Cox, Colonel Christopher Martin and Ray Russo of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in which the city council member expres ... More >>

Corps Values: Tom Leppert and Mary Suhm Aren't In D.C. To Talk About Flood Control

An illustration from the Trinity Parkway Design Criteria ManualYou know what I love? When people live up to their own stereotypes.My column this week in the paper version of Unfair Park is about signs that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may have grown a backbone in the matter of resisting politica ... More >>

Watch Your Step, East Texas

Winona's about an hour and a half east of Dallas on a good day -- just out I-20, little north of Tyler. Out thataways you'll find what remains of Camp Fannin, so named for James Walker Fannin and, from 1943 till '46, an Army infantry training center. Ever since then, it's been privately owned land - ... More >>

Trinity Parkway Already Taking Its Toll

The Dallas City Council's Trinity River Corridor Project Committee gets a briefing at 9:30 this morning on hurdles facing the Trinity River toll road project. They'll have people there from the North Texas Tollway Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. I really wish they had thought to ask ... More >>

Trinity Chairman Sees "Many, Many Obstacles" With Turnpike Project

Sam MertenFrom left to right: Gene Rice and Kevin Craig of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Dan Chapman of HNTB and project manager for the NTTA and Rebecca Dugger, director of the Trinity River Corridor Project As Schutze mentioned earlier, the council's Trinity River Corridor Project Committee m ... More >>

More Truth About What the Trinity Parkway Will Really Cost Us

"Flooded with Misinformation"? Damn Right.

Pumping the House Organ

Lunch With the Trinity Muckety-Mucks

Trinity Trust? Not on Yer Life.

Sam Coats Calls for Trinity Toll Road Vote

A Trinity "Tweak"? Impending Disaster's More Like It.

Burnt offering

When major-league Dallas soccer wanted to come to Hickory Creek, the folks there just weren't buying