- Local
- Community
- Journalism
Support the independent voice of Dallas and help keep the future of Dallas Observer free.
For a Cowboys franchise that’s always played under a hole in its roof, Wednesday marks the beginning of the end. At 10:30 a.m. tomorrow, the team’s new Arlington stadium will commence installation of the first piece of the monumental arch truss structure.
In numbers that I can’t come close to conceiving, the roof will include twin 17-foot wide by 35-foot deep arch box trusses weighing 3,255 tons each and spanning 1,225 feet, creating the longest single-span roof structure in the world. An 84-foot long, 180,000-pound arch truss section will be lifted into place at the stadium’s southwest abutment, 128 feet beyond the perimeter of the stadium seating bowl structure. The arch truss bears on a 64,000-pound cast steel arch pin assembly atop the concrete abutment.
Translation: It’s friggin’ huge. But don’t worry, purists. Upon completion, the retractable roof, when open, will still provide a hole. Guess even in a gaudy new stadium, God will still want to watch his favorite team. --Richie Whitt
Keep the Dallas Observer Free... Since we started the Dallas Observer, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas, and we would like to keep it that way. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering Dallas with no paywalls.