Shocking Revelations Find Fort Worth Bridges Way Behind Construction Schedule

Last night an incoming text message from Elsie Hotpepper came in with text saying "You're gonna love this!"

Along with a link to an article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram titled...

One of the Panther Island bridges in downtown Fort Worth is behind schedule, again

I do not know if you click on the above link that you will be able to read the article, or if you will be blocked by a paywall. For some reason I was able to read the article, unimpeded. 

And Elsie was right, sorta, well, I didn't exactly love this article, it is more accurate to say I was appalled and amused by this latest bit of inept Star-Telegram pseudo journalism.

Just the title is amusing. One of those pitiful little bridges is behind schedule, again? All three of those pitiful little bridges being built over dry land to possibly one day connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island have been behind schedule for years.

All three of them.

Way behind schedule.

Let's go through this article, commenting as we go along. The first paragraph...

The bridge needed to connect White Settlement Road to what eventually will be Fort Worth’s Panther Island is behind schedule, again, this time by a few weeks.

Behind by a few weeks behind the previous multiple behinds? Construction of these little freeway overpass type bridges began with a TNT exploding ceremony way back in 2014. With a then astonishing four year project timeline to build three little bridges over dry land.

Continuing on...

The bridge was first scheduled to open to traffic in 2017, along with two others, but design issues pushed completion back two years. Then in 2019, project officials said the White Settlement bridge would be finished by late summer 2020, but the date was pushed back again to the end of last year. COVID-19 and construction delays pushed the date into 2021, and a Tarrant Regional Water District spokesperson in December confirmed board members were told traffic would flow in February.

Okay, an item in the above paragraph has bugged me for years. "...design issues pushed completion back two years..." What are these design issues that caused such a problem with the building of little bridges over dry land? Does the Star-Telegram not employ a single investigative journalist who might try and find out what these design issues have been? 

Continuing on we will skip a couple paragraphs til we get to this one...

“Bridges for White Settlement, North Main and Henderson are being built over dry land for a cost of nearly $90 million. The three bridges are needed to connect downtown to the planned Panther Island, an 800-acre island in the Trinity River that would be formed after a bypass channel is cut between the two forks. The $1.17 billion project has languished without federal financial support for years.

The bridges are needed? So vitally needed they have been built in ultra slow motion? Needed to connect downtown Fort Worth to an imaginary island? An imaginary island which may be formed one day in the distant future when a cement lined ditch is dug between two forks of the Trinity River? And it is a puzzlement to some why this inane insane project languishes without federal support?

And then we come to this doozy...

The North Main bridge is capable of supporting a trolley, a feature that confused Panther Island board members David Cooke, the city manager, and James Hill, a water district board member. Both were interested in understanding if the bridge costs more and why such a feature was included when there is no trolley.

Oh my, one of the bridges is capable of supporting a trolley. A feature which confused various board members responsible for this ongoing Boondoggle. Are there any modern bridges, anywhere, which are not able to support a trolley? 

Continuing on, we will skip two paragraphs which discuss Fort Worth's hapless efforts, a decade ago, to build a short trolley line, and get right to the final paragraph in this latest example of Star-Telegram journalistic ineptitude...

Rademaker said he wasn’t sure what the North Main Bridge would have cost without sections designed to hold a streetcar. There is not track on the bridge. Concrete has been poured so that if the city wanted to run a trolley, a new bridge would not bee needed, he said.

Rademaker is a senior project manager for Fort Worth. Perhaps someone in this position not knowing rather germane factual details, such as the cost of various elements of a project, might be an element, among many, why this relatively simple public works project has become America's Dumbest Boondoggle.

And see if you can spot two rather embarrassing embarrassing mistakes, of the erroneous verbiage sort, in that final paragraph, copied and pasted, from this Star-Telegram article.

Does this newspaper not employ any editors? Or proofreaders...

Who Should Pay For Forth Worth Boondoggle's Incompetence Cost?

This blogging falls into the category of seeing something in an online west coast news source, usually the Seattle Times, about something I would not expect to see in a Texas news source, usually the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, about a similar type subject, again, usually in Fort Worth.

Way back in 2014 Fort Worth tried to start building three simple little bridges to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Shortly before that bridge building tried to begin, in Seattle, what was then the world's largest drill, began tunneling under downtown Seattle.

That drilling soon ran into a snag in the form of a steel pipe, which ended up delaying the tunnel drilling for around two years.

That tunnel has now long been completed and open to traffic. And now, apparently, the tunneling contractor has been ordered to pay Washington state $57 million for being at fault for the long tunneling stall.

Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, after more than five years those three simple little bridges are no where near being open to traffic, long stalled for who knows what variety of reasons. Not known due to the fact the facts of the bridge building stall not being transparently known to the Fort Worth public, due to the fact that Fort Worth lacks an actual responsible newspaper doing actual responsible investigatory journalism.

In the Seattle Times article, about this court order, mention was made of the fact that the state spent an amount similar to $57 million to continue managing the tunnel project whilst it was stalled. You know, continuing to need to pay all those contracted to be part of the project.

I have long wondered, and asked, how many millions of Fort Worth's stalled bridge building dollars have been spent paying the staff of the Trinity River Vision Authority all these years since the project should have been long ago completed, had this project been underway in an area of modern America free of corruption and nepotism.

Fort Worth Congresswoman, Kay Granger's son, J.D., has been paid over $200K a year, plus perks and benefits, for years and years; many years more than what such a relatively simple project should have taken to accomplish, but which is now not projected to be completed until some point way into the next decade.

This for a project originally touted as being a vitally needed flood control project.

Vitally needed in an area of Fort Worth which the Trinity River has not flooded for well over a half century, due to levees already in place, already paid for.

How come no one has been sued over what has become America's Dumbest Boondoggle? Originally known as the Trinity River Vision, before it morphed into the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Before simply being almost universally referred as just The Boondoggle?

How is it that Kay Granger's son is still sucking up taxpayer money for a job which my now pretty much any sane person can see has been totally botched?

And now a new employee has been added, paid even more than J.D. Granger, to try and fix the mess.

It is perplexing how one town in America can manage to dig a massive tunnel under its downtown, while another town in America can't seem to manage to build three simple little bridges.

And yet some wonder why we refer to some areas of America as modern America, you know, where city parks have no outhouses, streets have sidewalks, public works projects work for the public, you know that type modern concept...

Panther Island Runs Out of Money With No Construction Completed

Of late the Fort Worth Star-Telegram articles about America's Dumbest Boondoggle, also known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, have been skewing to being more like actual news articles than blatant propaganda.

The latest example of this is an article titled Panther Island at risk of running out of money; project faces delay.

Now, this article is still a typical Star-Telegram article, in that it is not any sort of a piece of investigative journalism, seeking facts and truth, and is still pretty much a propaganda piece. But, still, these type articles are closer than the Star-Telegram has come in years previous to reporting in an honest way that which has become one GIANT mess of a Boondoggle.

This latest Star-Telegram article about the Boondoggle, at last look, has generated only one comment. It is an on point comment...

Pat Richardson: I am less than impressed with the most excuse ridden public works project to which I have ever been directly exposed. The partisan attitudes and influences on the multiple problems are obvious even though the local elected officials involved are "non-partisan." Any federal monies are subject to the whims of an incompetent POTUS who uses emergency powers to pay for his arrogance. The Republicans got who they voted for; the Democrats are stuck with them; those who could have but did not vote deserve this mess.

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The Star-Telegram's Bud Kennedy posted the Panther Island at risk of running out of money; project faces delay on Facebook, where multiple comments worth repeating were posted...

 Judy Alter: It's a no-win situation. Can't be finished, can't be abandoned because it's a huge scar on he city. Thanks to the Granger family for all they do for Fort Worth--not!

Pam Mosher Sorrells: Boondoggle...waste of time and money

Cathy Smith: The city needs to throw in the towel. The Honorable Kay Granger needs to stop using federal funds/projects for the gainful employment if her son. Isn't that a conflict if interest. The city of fort worth should shop out the entire project for private development. It will still cost the taxpayers billions and they will never reap the economic "rewards".

Tricia Fennell Gilbertson: Granger and Price are not good for Fort Worth. That money could have done so much more. Now it will be an abandoned project.

Marcelle LeBlanc: Tricia Fennell Gilbertson the mayor has nothing to do with that mess. It’s all the Grangers.

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And then last night an incoming email pointed me to another article in another publication about America's Dumbest Boondoggle. The article is titled  Panther Island Review: No Construction Completed. 

Read the entire article, but before you do that, here are a couple good paragraphs worth repeating...


The review also says the project is not expected to be completed until 2028, a full 25 years after its inception. For comparison, it took the Walt Disney Corporation six years to build and open Walt Disney World, from 1965-1971.

The TRVA has yet to undergo either a financial or forensic audit of where $383 million in taxpayer funds has been spent. Texas Scorecard will continue to report on details of the programmatic review and how the Panther Island redevelopment boondoggle is affecting taxpayers.

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I am really enjoying how it now seems to be the norm to refer to the Trinity River Vision as a Boondoggle. I recollect a decade or so ago seeing myself chastised for suggesting such. I think this chastising took place in a Fort Worth online forum of some sort, a forum dedicated to something oxymoronish, something like Fort Worth Scenic Wonders, or Fort Worth Architecture.

Continuing on, in the comments above we see the Grangers being the ones being chastised as being the culprits responsible, in large part, for Fort Worth being the host of America's Dumbest Boondoggle.

There are a lot of people who think the path to Fort Worth's salvation lies in booting Kay Granger from Congress, and firing her son from the job he has had for way too long with the Trinity River Vision Authority.

I have been getting emails regarding the Boot Kay Granger from Congress Project, and blogged about this a few days ago in Republican Hopes To Boot Kay Granger In 2020 Primary.

That blogging generated the following Anonymous comment about Booting Granger from Congress...


Anonymous said...There is zero chance a Democrat can win in CD12. It’s all of Parker County and a bunch of Wise in addition to downtown and western Fort Worth. The funny thing is Granger basically legislates like a Democrat these days anyway but her constituents have no idea how she votes because she flies so low under the radar.

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I suppose the voters of Parker County, and Wise County, are not much annoyed by the mess the Trinity River Vision debacle has made in Fort Worth. And so they are not disgusted by Kay Granger's grifting role in the debacle, or her son's corrupt nepotistic hiring for a job for which he had zero qualifications, and which he has thoroughly botched, for which he is being paid over $200K a year, plus perks and benefits.

Eternal optimist that I be, I am hoping the incoming Blue Wave of 2020 is of Tsunami Proportions, washing the likes of Kay Granger and her cohorts from American politics, in one big flush...