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Texas Stadium site: "Signature" bridge on SH 114

Started by MaxConcrete, August 18, 2015, 08:00:25 PM

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MaxConcrete

Dallas Business Journal report

http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/print-edition/2015/03/27/walking-bridge-paves-way-for-former-texas-stadium.html

The area is still mostly a wasteland, with TxDOT occupying the entire stadium site. However, as of June it looked like TxDOT had shut down the beam fabrication facility, since the beam storage area was vacant (it previously had hundreds of beams) and there were two big holes in the side of the building.  However, the nearby concrete batch plant still appeared to be operational. The beam fabrication facility produced beams for the LBJ express (which is just about complete) and Tarrant County Express (first phase complete), and I'm thinking that beam demand has diminished to near zero.



So basically there is nothing out there but the City of Irving wants to get the "signature" bridge built to promote redevelopment. I put signature in quotes because the depiction does not look too impressive.



The depiction does seem to accommodate the 4-2M-2M-4 planned ultimate buildout. But the work underway further west is doing a quick-and-dirty addition of one managed lane in each direction, so I'm thinking the ultimate buildouf of 4-2M-2M-4 is in the distant future. Currently there is a section about two miles long built to the ultimate plan and the interior managed lanes are derelict. I was thinking they may never be used, but most likely they will be put into service when those single-lane managed lanes are opened.








www.DFWFreeways.com
www.HoustonFreeways.com


SteveG1988

By "signature" they mean, something other than a concrete girder span.
Roads Clinched

I55,I82,I84(E&W)I88(W),I87(N),I81,I64,I74(W),I72,I57,I24,I65,I59,I12,I71,I77,I76(E&W),I70,I79,I85,I86(W),I27,I16,I97,I96,I43,I41,

MaxConcrete

Quote from: SteveG1988 on August 21, 2015, 11:59:39 PM
By "signature" they mean, something other than a concrete girder span.

I should have clarified the meaning of signature for those not in North Texas. In North Texas, when a bridge is built as a fancy architectural monument rather than a basic, utilitarian structure, then it is a signature bridge. The main signature bridges in Dallas are the Margaret Hunt-Hill and Margaret McDermott Bridges.

The first arch of the Margaret McDermott bridge was completed early this morning.
http://transportationblog.dallasnews.com/

This project is called a signature bridge in planning documents (see below). At $30.3 million, it is quite expensive for an overpass. It looks like $11 million is local funding, probably from Irving and probably the cost of the enhanced pedestrian bridge.




Margaret Hunt-Hill bridge


Margaret McDermott Bridge




www.DFWFreeways.com
www.HoustonFreeways.com

MaxConcrete

#3
The precast beam fabrication yard has been removed from the Texas Stadium site. The site is now a cleared brownfield once again, like it was in 2010 after the demolition.

The cost of the signature bridge has gone up to $51.2 million, from $38 million. The start date is still listed at March 2017. It is unclear to me if the scope expanded, or if inflation is the cause, or if the signature feature is enhanced. See page 232 of this document http://www.nctcog.org/trans/tip/17-20/documents/17-20STTCActMar.pdf

www.DFWFreeways.com
www.HoustonFreeways.com

rte66man

Quote from: MaxConcrete on August 18, 2015, 08:00:25 PM
Dallas Business Journal report

http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/print-edition/2015/03/27/walking-bridge-paves-way-for-former-texas-stadium.html

The area is still mostly a wasteland, with TxDOT occupying the entire stadium site. However, as of June it looked like TxDOT had shut down the beam fabrication facility, since the beam storage area was vacant (it previously had hundreds of beams) and there were two big holes in the side of the building.  However, the nearby concrete batch plant still appeared to be operational. The beam fabrication facility produced beams for the LBJ express (which is just about complete) and Tarrant County Express (first phase complete), and I'm thinking that beam demand has diminished to near zero.

So basically there is nothing out there but the City of Irving wants to get the "signature" bridge built to promote redevelopment. I put signature in quotes because the depiction does not look too impressive.





$50+ million for a FOOTBRIDGE?  What are they building it out of, titanium?  Besides, what is going in at the old Texas Stadium site that would cause one to walk there?

:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:
When you come to a fork in the road... TAKE IT.

                                                               -Yogi Berra

txstateends

[quote rte66man]
$50+ million for a FOOTBRIDGE?  What are they building it out of, titanium?  Besides, what is going in at the old Texas Stadium site that would cause one to walk there?

:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:
[/quote]

Nothing, yet.  So this is a big-ego big-dreamer bridge to (and from) nowhere.

NEXT!!!
\/ \/ click for a bigger image \/ \/

Buffaboy

Texas knows how to live up to that old adage, "Everythin's bigger in Texas, y'all."
What's not to like about highways and bridges, intersections and interchanges, rails and planes?

My Wikipedia county SVG maps: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Buffaboy

MaxConcrete

"Massive Lifts Help Speed Bridge Construction"

https://www.enr.com/articles/49395-massive-lifts-help-speed-bridge-construction

It appears this bridge was challenging to build. The article says the traffic lanes are open.
www.DFWFreeways.com
www.HoustonFreeways.com

rte66man

Quote from: MaxConcrete on May 21, 2020, 11:05:31 PM
"Massive Lifts Help Speed Bridge Construction"

https://www.enr.com/articles/49395-massive-lifts-help-speed-bridge-construction

It appears this bridge was challenging to build. The article says the traffic lanes are open.

So I see from the article that is is a combination road/pedestrian bridge.  I still say that was a phenomenal waste of money, especially since there are no plans I've heard of for redevelopment of the site.
When you come to a fork in the road... TAKE IT.

                                                               -Yogi Berra

MaxConcrete

Photo posted by the contractor. While the bridge appears to be complete, judging by the lack of striping on the roadway in the foreground, it appears that it is not yet open to traffic.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ep82uv0W8AAyqLb?format=jpg&name=4096x4096

www.DFWFreeways.com
www.HoustonFreeways.com

Bobby5280

That's a relatively plain looking suspension bridge. It's nowhere near as interesting looking as the Skydance Bridge over I-40 in downtown Oklahoma City.

motorola870

Quote from: Bobby5280 on December 24, 2020, 11:36:53 AM
That's a relatively plain looking suspension bridge. It's nowhere near as interesting looking as the Skydance Bridge over I-40 in downtown Oklahoma City.
It looks like a post modern take on the old suspension bridges that dotted North Texas in the late 1800s and early 1900s at various river crossings.

Bobby5280

I guess that explains the plain look of the suspension bridge. If the design had been a newly conceived idea not based on a previous historical reference I'd end up calling the design a piece of crap.

I also think it is really odd that this pedestrian suspension bridge is being built over the median of a wide bridge for vehicles spanning TX-114. The bridge underneath the suspension bridge will obstruct some of the pedestrians' view of TX-114. I wonder if they configured the suspension bridge like this out of security and safety concerns. An idiot tossing a bottle or something else off the suspension bridge isn't going to do as much damage to vehicles traveling relatively slow underneath. The traffic on TX-114 is flowing at much higher speeds. If a jerk wanted to hit a car on TX-114 with something from that pedestrian bridge he would have to throw it fairly hard. I haven't seen this new suspension bridge in person yet. I wonder if it has any fencing and/or surveillance cameras to catch vandals in the act.

MaxConcrete

Quote from: Bobby5280 on December 25, 2020, 02:15:55 PM
I also think it is really odd that this pedestrian suspension bridge is being built over the median of a wide bridge for vehicles spanning TX-114.

I'm virtually certain the suspended truss is purely decorative and not for pedestrians. You can see there is no fence or railing on the truss. The bridge has wide sidewalks which are mostly covered. The roof over the sidewalk is more clearly visible in the image shown below, which I took in September

The decorative features make the bridge more interesting than a conventional bridge, but I agree that it is nothing to get excited about.

www.DFWFreeways.com
www.HoustonFreeways.com

Bobby5280

If that suspension bridge thing is not designed to be used by even pedestrians it really makes me wonder why they bothered building it. The structure is basically nothing more than a Christmas Tree style ornament to plant on top of an otherwise conventional highway bridge.

-- US 175 --

IDK where I read or heard it, but it was the desire of the city or TxDOT to build it while construction on that part of TX 114 was being worked on.  Similar to adding the deck park foundations by the Dallas Zoo during the work on I-35E south of downtown.

But otherwise, a valid question.  There have been no firm developments announced or planned on the horizon for the old Texas Stadium site, so, not much present use or need for the "bridge to nowhere".

Bobby5280

I don't even think it's fair to compare this purely ornamental "signature" bridge to something like a deck park capped over the top of a freeway. Deck parks have some practical functions to them.

Klyde Warren Park spans 3 blocks over the Woodall Rodgers Freeway in downtown Dallas and enhances the connection between downtown, uptown, the arts district and Victory Park. It's more friendly to pedestrians. The freeway doesn't do so much to physically divide the neighborhoods. There are more modest approaches to deck parks. North High Street in downtown Columbus is pretty interesting how it crosses I-670. There are shops built on either side of the street spanning the freeway. That's more elaborate than a lot of freeway crossings that merely have a lot of trees and landscaping lining the street.

As far as I can tell there aren't any specific plans yet for how the former Texas Stadium site will be re-developed. The "Diamond Interchange" project for TX-114, TX-183 and Loop 12 is not scheduled to be finished until 2025. DART is planning to build a new Orange Line train station at the site of that signature bridge. That will help enhance the value of the property inside the TX-114/TX-183/Loop 12 junction.



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