Visited Fw And D This Weekend

[2112]

I will share my experience shortly, not that anyone cares or anything. I saw some things there that I would love to see in Houston. And some things there that are just not possible here....as in natural hills and things like that.

But now that I am back home, i think I will enjoy a nice cold one downtown! I will be there at nine!

Even though it was a short trip, I was happy to be back, only because this is home, and it always will be!

[RedScare]

I used to work in downtown Foat Wuth. Love to here what is happening...especially how the relocated I-30 turned out.

[Willy1]

2112,

I'm glad you had fun in FW... I don't know if you spent any time in Dallas or not, but I read your posts on the FW Forum and I'm glad you had fun here. I wish I'd known you were coming in advance. I could have told you all the cool things to do and some of the cool hometown favorites, not just the tourist destinations. But, I'm glad you got to experience Sundance Square. FW and Dallas really are two different experiences. I personally think - and I'm very biased - that FW is a really nice city and getting better everyday. There is so much growth and so many big changes happening in FW... The new Trinity River Vision is going to transform FW into a much different city than you experienced this past weekend. It will literally double the footprint of DTFW and it's going to include a River Walk that will rival, if not blow away, San Antonio's and big city lake complete with high rise living on man made canals. The TRV is being built just north of the Tarrant County Courthouse. The final proposed plan is already approved (I think) and is in the planning stages and set to start construction in the next year or two, from what I understand... could be wrong on that, but I think it's being "fast tracked" by city leaders. FW city leaders are also saying this is the big project that will finally put FW "on the map", so to speak. This will be our Astrodome or NASA... or our answer to the St Louis Arch. It's literally going to change everything about FW... size, tourism, business, residential... Experts are saying this is what will push FW out of Dallas' shadow once and for all... It could even cause FW to become larger than Dallas, which many demographic forcasters are now saying will happen in the next 20 years.

Anyway, next time you have a trip to FW let me know in advance and I'd be happy to give you some pointers on where to go...

[LTAWACS]

Traitor!

[2112]

Traitor!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not really. Houston is and will always be home. That doesnt change the fact that Fort Worth was a great place to spend a weekend. The people there were really nice to me, and were very proud of thier city, just like we are. Also, Fort Worthians are most definitely vocal about maintaining thier own identity - it is not Dallas - they love thier city. That is not a negative thing to say about any city, keep in mind.

Bass hall was the envy of my visit. I love Jones hall in our own theater district as it is the home of our beloved symphony. But, you have to take a look at this incredible hall Fort Worth has built. It is something else. Jones hall has history in Houston, and I love it for that. And all our other theaters are phenominal, especially the Wortham and Hobby. But since I am more of a symphony goer, I cant help but appreciate other theaters such as the Bass, as I rarely go to a play at the Alley, or see a TUTS production.

[bachanon]

ft. worth is great! the museums, the people, the hills, downtown. love it.

has anyone seen the trinity river master plan for ft. worth featured in texas architect magazine some months ago? truly visionary.

[RedScare]

Here it is.

http://www.trinityrivervision.org/

[Willy1]

Here is an article about the Trinity River Plan that was in today's FW Star Telegram...

Posted on Sun, Jun. 12, 2005

GRAND VISIONS

Promoters of a plan to prevent flooding along the Trinity have painted a picture of a vibrant riverfront. But what is the dream and what is reality?

By Scott Streater and Mark Horvit

Star-Telegram Staff Writers

FORT WORTH -- It's a bold offer: Give us $435 million and we'll protect the area just north of downtown from catastrophic flooding. And while we're at it, we'll remake the face of the city.

That's the proposal by an influential coalition of elected leaders, administrators and urban planners promoting Trinity Uptown, the sweeping plan to rechannel the Trinity River. If all goes as planned, construction will begin next year.

More than $9 million in public money has already been spent to launch the project.

In contrast, a bare-bones solution to the most severe flooding threat would have cost about $10 million, according to estimates expected to be made public later this week.

The price disparity between the bargain-basement approach and the penthouse plan goes to the core of questions about the project as it gains momentum: Why is the budget so high? Is this economic development masquerading as flood control? What will the project actually deliver?

Some answers are hard to sort out. But an examination of the project shows that while millions of dollars are spent eliminating serious flood risks, millions more would be used to offset problems created by a proposed bypass channel -- the central flood-control tool. Millions more would go to aspects intended to attract development. And to meet the budget and schedule, several elements must fall perfectly into place during the estimated 10-year timetable for the project.

The project aims to transform flood control into the spark that ignites an economic renaissance in what planners are calling uptown Fort Worth, the area between downtown and the Stockyards. It would be one of the biggest local economic development projects since D/FW Airport. Organizers have dazzled the community with gleaming images of more than $1 billion in development they believe will follow.

Fundamentally, though, the project is about safety, backers have told Congress and the dozens of property owners who would lose land in the deal.

In a catastrophic flood, engineers say, big chunks of the dirt levees that protect the uptown area could be washed away, submerging large swaths of land.

Repairing the existing flood-control system -- the cheaper option, devised by the Army Corps of Engineers -- is unacceptable, project backers say. That's because it would require building up some levees. Instead, planners want the levees removed because they act as barriers between residents and the river.

The cheaper option also would not eliminate a more common type of flooding created by poor drainage.

"The $10 million Corps option is straight-up flood control, no frills, ugly," said Jim Oliver, general manager of the Tarrant Regional Water District, which is responsible for controlling flooding along much of the river in Fort Worth.

The more expensive answer is to cut a new river channel that would carry floodwaters harmlessly downstream. And while they're at it, the plan's advocates say, why not create a small lake across from the new RadioShack headquarters and ensure that water always remains deep enough for boats.

"It will create an urban waterfront that will be unique in North America," said U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth. "To me, the overall importance is that it will change the river to make the Trinity River the asset that I thought it always should be."

The Corps will endorse the more elaborate project in a preliminary report expected to be released this week. Final approval by the Corps -- which could come this fall after the public weighs in -- is the last regulatory hurdle before construction begins.

A grander plan

Wedged between levees that rise 22 feet in places, the Trinity River snakes north of downtown, its tea-colored water creeping along so slowly that it's hard to determine which direction the river is moving.

For decades, those levees have prevented central Fort Worth from flooding.

And they're still in excellent condition, according to the Corps, which inspects them every year.

But there's a problem. Over the past 25 years there has been an explosion of development in and around the floodplain, from Benbrook Lake to Dallas. All the new roads, driveways, sidewalks and parking lots allow much more water to wash into the Trinity than if grassy plains and wetlands were still there.

As a result, it takes less rain today to cause a devastating flood, said Mike Danella, a civil engineer in the Corps' Fort Worth office. And some levees throughout the city are no longer tall enough -- especially if the big one hits.

Federal regulators are required to design flood protection to handle a catastrophic deluge, no matter how rare. "Noah's flood" is how Richard Sawey, the project's chief engineer, describes it.

In North Texas, it would probably take a series of huge storms, hitting one after the other, to create such a flood.

It may happen this year, maybe next.

It may not happen for 1,000 years.

If it comes, though, and if the flood-control systems along the Trinity aren't adequate, "untold" numbers could die and more than $4 billion in property could be damaged, according to a government study.

According to federal engineers, two of the areas at greatest risk in Fort Worth are uptown and the Cultural District.

In early 2002, the Corps began developing plans to upgrade the levee system in the central city, said Rebecca Griffith, chief of the Corps' planning branch. Engineers determined they could restore flood protection by replacing a flood wall near the old Texas Utilities plant with a levee. Other levees would be raised in several locations, mostly along the river's Clear Fork. Gates would be placed on one or more bridges to close them and contain water during catastrophic flooding.

The cost: $10 million, Griffith said.

The plan was abandoned in early 2004, though.

That's because local leaders had already been working on another idea.

They wanted an urban oasis to replace what many see as a collection of mostly aging commercial and industrial sites in the North Main Street corridor.

Organizers of the Trinity River Vision, an ongoing effort to plan for development, recreation and other uses along an 88-mile stretch of the Trinity, envisioned the central Fort Worth area as a bustling mix of condos, parks and restaurants, with the river as the centerpiece.

They wondered: What if local money could be matched by federal funding, easing the burden on taxpayers here?

Public planning sessions were held. And Trinity Uptown was born.

Corps officials say they willingly switched gears.

"What we were able to determine is the traditional Corps process is not going to deliver the kind of product the city is looking for," said Gary Loew, programs director of the Corps' Southwestern Division in Dallas.

The project won over some, like Robert Goode, the city's transportation and public works director, who initially wondered about other priorities, including road improvements. But, Goode realized, Fort Worth would only be chipping in a small percentage of the budget -- about $26 million, plus some tax proceeds from the project area.

"For that kind of investment, you're getting how many millions in private development," Goode said, "and you're changing the face of the city."

High hopes, high costs

Picture San Antonio's famed River Walk on steroids.

The Trinity River, no longer hemmed in by dirt levees, is rechanneled to create two islands that combined are roughly equal to the size of downtown. Between the islands is a small lake.

Rows of new condominiums, each typically six stories tall, stand alongside canals. Parks and wide walkways line the river banks.

This is the grand vision, rendered in minute detail in the model created by architects and project planners to promote Trinity Uptown. It fires the imagination with images of Sunday strolls, afternoons playing waterside and evenings dining dockside.

But those same images have critics wondering just how much of this project is for flood control, and how much is for economic development.

"I think we're doing an economic project, then we're doing flood-control work to preserve the economic development," said outgoing City Councilman Clyde Picht.

James Toal of Gideon Toal, the chief urban planner for the project, said the plan is designed to do both.

"You have to do flood control, and you should do it right," he said. "And that's what this project is about."

In some ways, it's difficult to determine which major costs are for flood control and which are for economic development. That's because the channel system is integral to the redevelopment that planners believe will follow.

The 1 1/2-mile bypass channel would essentially be another arm of the river but would be designed to handle more water during torrential rains. At those times, three flood gates would close, sealing off the uptown area. All the water would be forced through the channel, which would carry it downstream. Griffith said that would protect the uptown area and the Cultural District.

Digging the channel and building the gates would cost about $100 million.

That's the basic flood control. But the channel can't be built without a lot of related expenses. Buildings and businesses in its path have to be removed, and their tenants relocated. Pollution created by decades of commercial and industrial operations must be cleaned. Utility lines must be moved.

Roads that used to go through the channel area now must span the water, so three bridges must be built.

The preparation work costs more than $165 million.

Once the channel is built, a new flood risk would be created that will cost millions more to avoid.

Floodwaters will move more quickly through the channel than down the river's current path. The water will have to be slowed or serious flooding could occur downstream. So project sponsors would purchase about 250 acres along the river where the water could safely flow. They'll also raise a section of University Drive to help trap the waters.

Cost: about $56 million.

Millions more go for elements that have nothing to do with flood control.

A 33-acre lake -- or "water feature," as planners call it -- would be created where the Trinity's West Fork and Clear Fork meet. The water running through the development area would need to be deep enough for recreation. So a dam will be built just downstream of Samuels Avenue.

Cost: $64 million.

The dam would also help ensure that the river doesn't become stagnant and remains healthy for fish, said Sawey, with the Massachusetts engineering firm Camp Dresser & McKee.

Whenever there's a risk of flooding, the dam will release water.

The channel itself ultimately becomes a key economic development tool. That's because property lining it gains a waterfront view.

The Water District will control the prime property available for development because it's part of the land being purchased for channel construction.

What $435 million buys

George Shannon stood in front of the Fort Worth City Council in April and explained why the levee system must come down. Shannon, president of the Water District's board, decried the levees as having "divided the citizens from the river."

The uptown project, he promised, "will bring them back."

That image of the uptown area without the levees is depicted in the elaborate model promoting Trinity Uptown.

But the $435 million project will only eliminate the need for the levees -- it won't pay for removing them. That work would be done by developers or perhaps the Water District.

"When we say it allows us to eliminate the levee barriers, that's from an engineering perspective, it allows us to remove them," Toal said. "And frankly, moving dirt is not expensive."

The levees are emblematic of confusion over what the project will and won't deliver for the price tag.

Interior canals for extra waterfront? Essential elements, says one of the project's architects, Vancouver, British Columbia-based Bing Thom, but not included. New neighborhoods for the area? Sure, but the project won't pay for the road and utility work needed.

A new road that would run along the river by the bluffs was originally included in the plan and is featured on the model. But it was removed as planning proceeded and the budget climbed from $360 million to $435 million.

Another point of confusion: Residents may not understand the extent of protection the project will provide.

Almost every flood in Fort Worth for the past 50 years would have happened even if this project had been built. That's because its focus is on preventing a catastrophic flood in which the river overtops the levees.

But much of the city's flooding is created by an outdated stormwater drainage system, which leads to difficulties getting water off streets and into the river.

The Trinity Uptown plan does fix drainage problems in the project area that would not be addressed by the Corps' cheaper option. Federal regulators estimate that could save almost $5 million in damage to buildings and businesses in one big storm alone.

It could also help fix broader drainage shortcomings in the Cultural District west of downtown, but only if the city spent more money.

Sawey said the project represents a good start on a drainage and levee system that needs help.

"The project never was thought of or intended to fix every flooding, every drainage problem in Fort Worth," he said.

[brijonmang]

yeah i was just in the Dallas area this weekend too...driving through on 45 makes me imagine Houston with sunken freeways...that would be something

[RaiderDude]

Do you think sucken freeways in Houston would be prone to getting flooded? I remember Allison and that was not pretty.

[brijonmang]

yeah...they would...but it was just a daydream sorta thing. Theres no way we could economically support a system like that