No. I am not making that up.
Construction of these three simple little bridges began way back in 2014. Two of the three are now, in 2021, completed. Sort of.
This Sunday morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram had an article about that which has become America's Biggest & Most Embarrassing Boondoggle. This Fort Worth’s Panther Island will get federal funding in 2022, US Rep. Kay Granger says article contains some of the usual propaganda gems.
Along with failing to make mention of one big piece of reality. With that reality being that federal funding has not been forthcoming for Fort Worth's poorly planned, ineptly implemented public works project because of the requirement that a feasibility study is required before federal funding can be considered.
We blogged about the feasibility study problem just a couple months ago in Fort Worth Opens One Of Its Bridges To Nowhere Over Dry Land.
Before that we blogged about the feasibility study problem in August of 2020 in Panther Island Board Wants No Feasibility Study Of Fort Worth's Embarrassing Boondoggle.
And even way further back in March of 2010 in CONFLUENCE: A River & A Creek Runs Through Tarrant County Losing Dollars & Lives reference is made to the feasibility study issue way back in February of 2001, in the following paragraph from that blog post...
A feasibility study for the watershed had been initiated by the US Army Corps of Engineers in February 2001. In a letter to Congresswoman Kay Granger in November 2009, Col. Richard Muraski of the Corps stated that, "Due to a variety of issues, including a lack of consistent funding, higher priority work and technical shortcomings, completion of the study has taken longer than normal." He went on to state that the Corp recognized the "history of destructive flooding" in the area and that approximately $100,000 would be provided to "continue the studies of the Big Fossil Creek watershed."
The flood prone watershed referred to in the above paragraph is not the area focused on by the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, where there has been no flooding for well over half a century. Kay Granger has shown ZERO real concern for the area of her congressional district which has actually had, and continues to have, deadly destructive flooding.
The first three paragraphs of this latest Star-Telegram article about the Boondoggle...
The Panther Island project will see enough federal money in the 2022 funding cycle to begin digging the channel under the already-built bridges, U.S. Rep. Kay Granger said Saturday.
Granger, R-Fort Worth, said it’s not clear how much funding will come through for the project, but she’s confident it will be enough to begin cutting the 1.5-mile channel.
“It comes in different buckets, so there may be some in this one and then some in the next one,” Granger said. “I think it will be funded for everything they can spend in the next cycle.”
Enough funding to begin digging in 2022? And the funding will come in different buckets? Like has already been said, there is to be no federal funding without a feasibility study. Or has that requirement been dropped?
Granger made these funding comments at yesterday's ribbon cutting grand opening of the North Main Street bridge.
And then we have the following two paragraphs...
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Enough funding to begin digging in 2022? And the funding will come in different buckets? Like has already been said, there is to be no federal funding without a feasibility study. Or has that requirement been dropped?
Granger made these funding comments at yesterday's ribbon cutting grand opening of the North Main Street bridge.
And then we have the following two paragraphs...
But for now, all three bridges span dry land. Officials, including Granger, have long said that it was cheaper and easier to build the bridges first and then cut the channel that will connect the ends of a U-shaped bend in the Trinity River. The area known as Panther Island is not actually an island until water begins flowing through the channel.
“We didn’t have to do the water this way, but it was the smart way, it could be done faster and cheaper,” Granger said.
The smart way? We didn't have to do the water this way? Officials, including Granger, have long said it was cheaper and easier to build the bridges first and then cut the channel?
How many times has it been repeated that there was no logical option other than to build the bridges over dry land. It would have been idiotic to dig a ditch first, fill it with water, and then build the bridges. Without the bridges that ditch would be a serious obstacle to traffic.
Why do these supposed "officials" repeat this nonsense over and over again?
Easier to build the bridges first? It has taken over 7 years to easily build these bridges.
Way longer than it took to build the Golden Gate bridge.
To illustrate how idiotic this cheaper and easier to build the bridges over dry land nonsense is, it would be like way back in the 1930s there was no water in San Francisco Bay. And the city decided to build a suspension bridge over dry land to connect to Marin County, and then fill the land under the bridge with water to create a bay. With the local officials repeating over and over and over again that it was cheaper and easier to build the bridge over dry land, as if there was any other logical option.
As has also been said over and over again, if the reality of this Fort Worth project was is as touted, that is, as a vitally needed flood control economic development scheme, why has this project limped along for most of this century?
Waiting for the rest of America to pay for it.
When Fort Worth voters have not voted to support this project by approving any sort of funding bond issue. Does Kay Granger actually believe that when she tries to finagle federal funding for her son's Boondoggle that other Representatives won't raise objections to funding the Fort Worth Boondoggle?
All you have to do is look at that photo of the newly opened bridge to see a visual metaphor for the quality of the Trinity River Vision. If any of the rest of the vision becomes anything someone can see do you think the quality will be of the same level as these three imaginary iconic signature bridges?
Or worse...
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The smart way? We didn't have to do the water this way? Officials, including Granger, have long said it was cheaper and easier to build the bridges first and then cut the channel?
How many times has it been repeated that there was no logical option other than to build the bridges over dry land. It would have been idiotic to dig a ditch first, fill it with water, and then build the bridges. Without the bridges that ditch would be a serious obstacle to traffic.
Why do these supposed "officials" repeat this nonsense over and over again?
Easier to build the bridges first? It has taken over 7 years to easily build these bridges.
Way longer than it took to build the Golden Gate bridge.
To illustrate how idiotic this cheaper and easier to build the bridges over dry land nonsense is, it would be like way back in the 1930s there was no water in San Francisco Bay. And the city decided to build a suspension bridge over dry land to connect to Marin County, and then fill the land under the bridge with water to create a bay. With the local officials repeating over and over and over again that it was cheaper and easier to build the bridge over dry land, as if there was any other logical option.
As has also been said over and over again, if the reality of this Fort Worth project was is as touted, that is, as a vitally needed flood control economic development scheme, why has this project limped along for most of this century?
Waiting for the rest of America to pay for it.
When Fort Worth voters have not voted to support this project by approving any sort of funding bond issue. Does Kay Granger actually believe that when she tries to finagle federal funding for her son's Boondoggle that other Representatives won't raise objections to funding the Fort Worth Boondoggle?
All you have to do is look at that photo of the newly opened bridge to see a visual metaphor for the quality of the Trinity River Vision. If any of the rest of the vision becomes anything someone can see do you think the quality will be of the same level as these three imaginary iconic signature bridges?
Or worse...
Can we expect a story of the extra cash approved to Oliver ($300K) and Granger's kid ($60K) before too long? It's rare to see the Startlegram scoop Durango! What's more, are you planning to do one or more stories on the Panther Island Central City Flood Project? Its Executive Director is one JD Granger. As far as I can tell, their main accomplishment to date has been to build 225 feet of sidewalk along a canal. There's a story at https://fwtx.com/news/progress-report/ - and even that sidewalk appears to be three years behind schedule if you look at the "related" blurb about JD from the same publication. Apparently, JD's sidewalk is like a local version of the Trump border wall.
ReplyDeleteInquiring minds want to know!