Dallas reached another milestone in its years-long battle over a proposal to build a toll road through a park along the Trinity River on the edge of downtown. The latest version of the proposal so far hasn't cleared any controversies.
"At a meeting of the Transportation and Trinity River Project Committee, 12 of 15 council members heard from urban planner Larry Beasley about his so-called Dream Team’s new plan for the Trinity Parkway," reports Robert Wilonsky, who also offers a critical opinion of the results of their work: "which still looks and feels and sounds a lot like the highway everyone hated so much that Mayor Mike Rawlings called for this do-over."
After a year of work by a collection of planners and engineers, along with an appointed advisory committee, the Dream Team produced the following conceptual proposal:
The road will be four meandering lanes. Traffic will move at 45 miles per hour. There will only be a handful of on-and-off ramps. There will be trees everywhere. There will be U-turns and shoulder pull-over spots for those wanting to enjoy so-called “WOW” views. There won’t be trucks. There won’t be tolls. There will be park access.
Except Wilonsky remains skeptical that the talking points offered by the Dream team will live up to the reality of the proposal, if the proposal should be realized. Wilonsky writes:
Because, you see, that meandering road really doesn’t meander. And the lanes are wide and only getting wider — from 10 and 11 feet discussed last year to 11 and 12 feet in the latest iteration. And the proposed grass shoulders will probably wind up being gravel.
Wilonsky offers additional details about the park planning occurring concurrently as the road planning, and also previews potential next steps for the so-called "Dream Team."
FULL STORY: Wilonsky: The Dream Team’s Trinity Parkway still looks like nightmare toll road everyone hated
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