At that point in time I took the picture you see here, among others, and blogged about what I saw in a blogging titled Taking A Look At The Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Products.
About a year before that, way back in November of 2014, I blogged A Big Boom Begins Boondoggle Bridge Construction Three Months Late about the bizarre TNT exploding ceremony the Trinity River Vision Boondogglers, and its politician enablers, engaged in to mark the start of construction of one of their three simple bridges being built over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.
A year later, in October of 2015, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram published one of its more embarrassing pieces of mis-informative propaganda about "Fort Worth's signature V-shaped bridges are under construction and will eventually span the expanded river channel for the Trinity River Vision project."
I blogged about this Star-Telegram irresponsible act of pseudo journalism in Beautiful Fort Worth V Piers The Likes Of Which The World Has Never Seen.
Six months after the Star-Telegram's ridiculous V-Piers swoon, construction came to a halt. America's Biggest Boondoggle's bridge construction has been halted now for a year. Halted with no explanation and with no local newspaper working to uncover what has gone awry with this aspect of the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision Boondoggle.
Would you not think the Star-Telegram would send one of its intrepid reporters to the ground floor of the Star-Telegram building, where the Trinity River Vision has its headquarters, along with multiple project representations, including 3-D models of all the imaginary wonders this inept, failed public works project claims to be foisting on the public, which the public has never voted for?
Years ago, what eventually became America's Biggest Boondoggle, eminent domain was abused to take property from Fort Worth citizens.
Proper use of eminent domain takes private property for the public good for things like roads, hospitals, schools. With the property owner fully compensated and made whole.
Eminent domain is not supposed to be used for private enterprise. And certainly not when the development scheme increases the property value of some of those enabling the eminent domain abuse. Has there ever been an accounting of Kay Granger's property holdings in the area seen by the Trinity River Vision?
Some of those who had their property stolen fought the theft in court. Some were sued for not accepting the compensation offered. None of this organized crime-like activity has been reported in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
And now, years after property was taken for what was claimed to be a vitally needed flood protection and economic development scheme, nothing has been built to fruition. A project alleged to be vitally needed, and yet enacted in slow motion, or no motion at all, such as is the case with the Boondoggle's bridges.
What follows is a look at one of those notorious bridges no longer being constructed. These photos are brought to us by one of the victims of the Trinity River Vision's abuse of eminent domain.
In the first picture that aforementioned victim of eminent domain abuse is standing where his business used to be, looking at one of Fort Worth's future tourist attractions.
As we go through these photos we get a closer and closer look at the infamous wooden V-Pier forms.
I have never understood how these piers are supposed to support a road deck.
You reading this in modern parts of America, and the world, have you ever seen something like a bridge under construction looking like the mess you see above?
Before we look further at these photos of the current state of stalled bridge construction I must share with you what the bridges are supposedly supposed to look like upon completion.
The above is from the Trinity River Vision Authority website. Make note of the water channel. With V-Piers in the water.
If you look closely at the above drawing and the illustration at the top you will see that the drawings show two V-Piers, side by side, at each instance of a V-Pier. Did they not get around to building any of the side by side V-Pier pairs? Or did the design get changed?
Again regarding V-Pier pairs, is that what we are seeing above, in the foreground, the foundation of a second V-Pier, awaiting the wooden form being attached to the rebar sticking up out of the top?
How in the world was, or is, cement supposed to be poured in these forms? Maybe the above is not ready for its cement. Supposedly it was a problem with the rebar which brought about the construction halt. I doubt that is the actual reason. I suspect the design failure is much more comprehensive than just a problem with rebar.
Above is a close up look at the foundation of one of the Boondoggle's V-Piers. What a mess.
Looking at this incredibly sloppy construction site, and the V-Piers, several questions come to my mind.
First off, the foundations for the V-Piers.
Was a big hole dug, with a lot of cement poured into the hole, so as to make a solid, impervious to movement, foundation for the V-Piers, and the road deck to be built above the V-Piers?
If cement is poured onto those wooden forms, and the supports then removed, how do the V's not collapse to the ground?
One of the Boondoggle's, and its partner in propaganda, the Star-Telegram's, more ridiculous pieces of misinformation has been that these bridges are being built over dry land so as to save money.
When the fact of the matter is that no water will flow under these bridges until a ditch is dug under them and water is diverted from the Trinity River into that ditch.
In other words, there never was any reasonable option other than building these simple bridges over dry land.
And that is another element I do not understand. That being the ditch. So, you have the bridges built. And now you dig a ditch under the bridges, with V-Piers in the ditch? How do you dig a ditch under an existing bridge without creating all sorts of engineering problems?
If this was just local foolishness with the locals wasting their own money on this inept nonsense it really would be no one's business but the locals, but this inept project is being funded with federal money, to the tune, currently, of more than a half billion bucks.
I do not think most of the Fort Worth locals have any problem with being the host to America's Biggest Boondoggle. Else wise the locals would not have re-elected Kay Granger. Obviously the Fort Worth locals are totally okay with America's Biggest Boondoggle and Kay's son, J.D., being the Executive Director of something most of America would not tolerate.
But, most of America does not operate in the Fort Worth Way.
Thank God.....
Well, it's like this. The bridges designed by Bing Thom were pretty nice except when they did a hydrological study of the Trinity at the bridge site the volume of water was too great and would cause flooding downstream. So the channel was proposed to be widened to lower the water volume but that would require a longer bridge span. So the bridges were redesigned (inadequately) to accommodate the wider river. But not to worry - the 2009 cost estimate still holds at $208M and won't go up under any circumstances. J D Granger's salary, on the other hand, will go up disproportionately to the success of the project and proportionately to the cost. That's all you need to know.
ReplyDeletehttp://apps.fortworthtexas.gov/council_packet/mc_review.asp?ID=24316&councildate=3/21/2017
ReplyDeleteThe bridge delays are costing real money. Here's one example that has to be dealt with athe the next city council meeting.