One of The Boondoggle's "Products" is three bridges being built over nothing. Prior to it causing an epidemic of eye rolling The Boondoggle referred to these three simple bridges as being signature bridges which would become iconic symbols of Fort Worth.
No, that is not an artist's rendering of one of The Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing you are looking at here.
When I was in downtown Fort Worth on Monday I decided to head west out of downtown, on West 7th Street on my way to Uncle Julios. I parked at the north end of Trinity Park and proceeded to get an up close look at the new West 7th bridge across the Trinity River.
As you can see this is a visually interesting, futuristic looking bridge. With a wide pedestrian path, outside the lanes of traffic, on both sides of the bridge.
A close up look at the West 7th Bridge had me thinking that it would not cause giggling to refer to this bridge as a signature bridge, with it being a one of a kind type deal. I also thought that this bridge had the potential to become a sort of iconic image of Fort Worth, as the connector between its downtown and the town's fabled Cultural District.
From the location from which I took the above picture I then proceeded under the bridge to find myself soon making an amusingly ironic discovery in the form of a historical marker.
I will copy the information one sees on the above West 7th Bridge Historical Marker....
One hundred years after the initial W. 7th Street bridge opened, the world's first pre-cast network arch bridge was dedicated on November 15, 2013. The innovative design by Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Engineer Dean Van Landuyt and progressive construction techniques allowed the bridge to open in only four months.
The $26 million signature bridge connects motorists and pedestrians with downtown Fort Worth and the Cultural District, offering a scenic view of the Clear Fork Trinity River, and was a successful partnership between the community, TxDOT, Sundt Construction and the City of Fort Worth.
Progressive construction techniques allowed this bridge to open in only four months?
While downstream a short distance, the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle is building three simple bridges over nothing, with a 48 month construction timeline. Not four months.
The re-built West 7th Bridge cost $26 million? How much are The Boondoggle's plain, simple bridges supposedly going to cost? I may be remembering wrong, but it seems like $27 million is an amount I have read.
I like how this historical marker accurately refers to the West 7th Bridge as a "signature bridge".
Are the Trinity River Vision Boondogglers aware of this feat of bridge engineering, completed in four months, a short distance upstream from where The Boondoggle has currently made a big mess?
Great looking bridge. Fort Worth is lucky the 7th Street Bridge was not managed by the Trinity River boondogglers.
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