Hometown By Handlebar Provides Definitive Detail Of How Long It Took To Build Fort Worth's Paddock Viaduct

Earlier today in my quest to find out why the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing are projected to take four years to build I looked at Fort Worth's Paddock Viaduct.

I was unable to pin down exact dates as to the start and end of construction of the Paddock Viaduct, yet I was able to determine that it is yet one more much more complicated, much more impressive feat of bridge engineering than the Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing.

And that the Paddock Viaduct was built in less than four years.

In Fort Worth there is this guy, Mike Nichols, who has a website called Hometown by Handlebar, in which he does such a good job of telling the story of the history of Fort Worth that I am regularly amazed at the material he comes up with.

For instance, years ago when I came upon the memorial to Al Haynes and the Texas Spring Palace, at that point in time in run down eyesore condition, since restored, I webpaged what little info I could find about this piece of Fort Worth history.

Recently Hometown by Handlebar told the story of the Texas Spring Palace and Al Haynes in Three Parts. How this information gets discovered at this level of detail by Mr. Nichols is a mystery to me.  The story of the Texas Spring Palace and Al Haynes really needs to be made into a movie.

The Hometown by Handlebar history of the Texas Spring Palace and Al Haynes in Three Parts: Texas Spring Palace (Part 1): Cowtown’s Karporama, Texas Spring Palace (Part 2): A Blaze of Glory and Texas Spring Palace (Part 3): “No Truer Hero Ever Died”

Pointing me to the Hometown by Handlebar Paddock Viaduct information came via a blog comment....

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Century Ago Fort Worth's Biggest Bridge Was Built Over The Trinity River In Less Than Four Years": 

The Hometown by Handlebar guy has further info on the Paddock Viaduct:

http://hometownbyhandlebar.com/?p=11828

A Century Ago Fort Worth's Biggest Bridge Was Built Over The Trinity River In Less Than Four Years

Today I continue my quest to find an answer as to why the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing are scheduled to take four years to build.

As my quest continues today we will look at a Fort Worth bridge which opened to traffic a century ago, in 1914.

Known as the Paddock Viaduct, this bridge, to my eyes, is quite an attractive structure, particularly when seen up close.

The Paddock Viaduct was the first concrete arch bridge built in the United States using self-supporting re-inforced steel.

According to the Bridgemapper website's article about the Paddock Viaduct "The principal constraints facing Bowen (the builder) in the design of the Main Street Viaduct were related to the unstable soil conditions of the site and to the unpredictable nature of the Trinity River."

I don't know why Mr. Bowen did not use the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's bridge building methodology and build his bridge over dry land and then add the river later.

Now, how long did it take to build the Paddock Viaduct, a bridge which is clearly a more complicated feat of bridge building engineering that the Boondoggle's bridges?

Well, I could not find a precise start and finish date for the Paddock Viaduct.

The Wikipedia Paddock Viaduct article said it was built in 1913.

The Texas State Historical Association website's Paddock Viaduct article said it was built in 1914.

The Waymarking website's Paddock Viaduct article also had it built in 1914.

The aforementioned Bridemapper website's Paddock Viaduct article also had it built in 1914.

And then we have the Go Historic website's article about the Paddock Viaduct which simply says 1912 - 1914, which implies to me that construction began in 1912 and was finished two years later, which sounds reasonable.

So, once again, I ask, how can the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing take four years to build?

Should The Paddock Viaduct Be Closed While Fort Worth Is Working On Re-Opening Heritage Plaza With An Inclinometer?

On the left what you are looking at is a brick paved curvy sidewalk that is called the Heritage Trail.

The Heritage Trail, when I first walked upon it, sort of reminded me of a pedestrian version of San Francisco's Lombard Street.

Many of the bricks that make up the Heritage Trail have names on them, which would seem to indicate that people donated money to this Heritage Trail project so as to have their name walked on.

Well, the Heritage Trail has seen better days. I would think those who paid money to have their name bricked might have some sort of fraud case to be made against whoever or whatever it was that conned them out of their money, what with the Heritage Trail now a rundown eyesore.

The Heritage Trail leads to Heritage Park Plaza, which is also an eyesore, a blocked off by a cyclone fence eyesore, which has been closed for years.

About at the point where the Heritage Trail reaches Heritage Plaza a sign has been installed since I was last at this location. This sign purports to explain why Heritage Plaza is a boarded up eyesore, with this explanation being yet one more example of local governmental propaganda presuming that none of the locals have any memory of the actual history of what takes places in this part of the planet.

Below is the text from the above Heritage Park, I mean, Heritage Plaza, sign....

PRESERVING OUR HERITAGE
Heritage Plaza is closed....and we're working to re-open it.

Heritage Plaza sits atop the 1 1/2 acre Heritage Park. This location on the bluff above the Trinity River is part of the site where the original Fort Worth military outpost was located. The Plaza was designed by renowned landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, and was our city's critical contribution to America's Bicentennial Celebration in 1976. Halprin's unique landscape designs stretch across America from the FDR Memorial in Washington, D.C. to Ghiradelli Square in San Francisco. In 2010 Heritage Plaza was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This plaza is part of a larger, more exciting vision for Downtown Fort Worth and reopening it is a priority. Time and weather have taken their toll, creating public safety issues that must be addressed. However, repairing, reopening and restoring this historic site requires much thought and care. In time drainage, electrical work and structural improvements will ultimately be made.

In 2009, the Fort Worth City Council announced its intent to collaborate with public and private partners to reopen Heritage Plaza. Staff from the City of Fort Worth and Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives, Inc. have been working with the public to move forward with a deliberate approach to re-open the plaza. In 2011 funding was raised to begin Phase 1 analysis of the Plaza.

WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW?
Phase 1: Today and for the next couple years, we are measuring the stability of the slope to determine if and how ground movements might influence restoration decisions. The monitoring period is 2 years.

We are using site survey and inclinometer measurements to determine if structural elements and the subgrade soils are moving laterally - if at all. There are indications of movement and we are trying to get a better sense of this condition. The inclinometer readings will determine if the movement is purely a superficial issue or if it a symptom of a deeper instability problem which will require a more intensive effort to prevent future subsurface movements. For a more detailed summary of the findings, please visit www.dfwi.org.

_______________________________________

Where do I start? Inclinometer measurements?

Yes, let's start with those inclinometer measurements. Back when this park was closed the excuse had nothing to do with ground shifting. I webpaged and blogged about being appalled about this closure. And the bogus, stupid reasons given for the closure.

The webpage and blog mention the actual reasons given for the park closure at the time of its closure, with the closure having nothing to do with structural problems. Or ground shifting.

My webpage about Fort Worth's Lost Heritage generated an email from the guy who actually designed this extremely well designed park, Junji Shirai.

I'll repeat what Junji had to tell me...

I came across the web site of yours that told me about the closure and deterioration of the Heritage Park, Fort Worth.

My name is Junji Shirai, a Japanese architect, and I am the one who designed that park. It was commissioned to Lawrence Halprin and Associates San, Francisco to design, and Don Carter (passed away), Satoru Nishita and myself were assigned to do the work. All 3 of us are truly nature-loving, easy going designers but we were dead serious about the representation of the great heritage the city of Fort Worth possesses in our design of the park. We were focusing our attention mostly to the spacial experience of the visitors when they stroll through the semi-enclosed space, walkways, water temple, streams along the walk among trees and shrubs, over looking the Trinity and enjoy the expanse of scenery, etc. One of the design features we made realized was the lighting system for the entire park. You might not have noticed it but all lighting for the night illumination are fully integrated into the walls. This was done in order to avoid ordinary light posts lining along the walks otherwise, for we did not want night visitors lit by overhead ramps. We are so proud of the final product when it was dedicated to the city and the citizens of Fort Worth, but I am so saddened to hear about what has happened to it today.

From the saying in the script on the wall, I believe those who do not regard their heritage right, would be regarded lightly in the days after they are gone.

Junji Shirai (currently reside in Tokyo.)

__________________________________

Fort Worth closed Heritage Park/Plaza after four people drowned in one of the Water Garden's water features. Fort Worth had to pay out a lot of money due to those tragic Drowning Pool drownings. Followed by spending a lot of money to make the poorly designed Drowning Pool drowning-proof.

Some numbskull, seeing that Heritage Park/Plaza also had some water features, albeit totally danger-free water features, deemed it fiscally prudent to close the park, lest Fort Worth get hit with another expensive law suit, even though there was no structural problem, no electrical problem, no real problem at all, unless you consider a homeless person, or two, taking a bath in one of the safe water features, to be a problem.

One of the excuses made for the closure was that the public did not feel safe in Heritage Park/Plaza. I'm part of the public. I always felt safe there, even when I saw some sad souls taking a bath there.

If ground shifting is actually a problem presenting a danger, what caused the ground shifting? The next door construction of Tarrant County College digging into the Trinity River bluffs?

If the ground shifting is causing a potential safety problem with the concrete catwalks in Heritage Park, a park built in the 1970s, what about that bigger concrete structure right next to Heritage Park, as in the Paddock Viaduct, also known as the North Main Street Bridge, a bridge which was built long before Heritage Park?

Wouldn't a ground shifting structural failure be more dangerous with a bridge carrying heavy vehicular traffic than concrete catwalks carrying a few humans?

I really think the Paddock Viaduct needs to be closed, blocked off by cyclone fence until a study can be conducted to determine if the bridge is safe.....

Turn Around To Not Drown While You Are Rockin' The Trinity River

Pedaling on the Trinity Trail on the downriver side of the Rockin' the River zone, I saw an orange boom spanning the river.

I assumed the orange boom was in place to keep Rockin' the River Inner Tubing Happy Hour Floaters contained within the pollution-free safe to swim in section of the Trinity River.

A short distance downriver from the orange boom I saw two signs I'd not seen before, one sign on each end of the big arch of the Main Street Bridge that spans the Trinity River.

STEEP DROP AHEAD
TURN AROUND
DON'T DROWN

Sounds very dire. I had no recollection of ever seeing a steep drop on the Trinity River in this location, so, of course I was curious.

On the right you are looking at the Main Street Bridge. And the warning signs. The Main Street Bridge is also known as the Paddock Viaduct. It was built in 1914. The first bridge in America to have self-supporting arches of concrete.

I do not know if being the first bridge in America to have self-supporting arches of concrete made the rest of America green with envy, or not.

The bridge was named for B.B. Paddock. He was a Fort Worth mayor and newspaper editor.

I know these things because I read them on a plaque stuck to a big rock near the bridge. On the south side of the bridge, that's the right side in the picture, there is a State of Texas Historical Marker that goes into more detail about the bridge. I came upon this Historical Marker years ago whilst exploring the area around the now sadly defunct Heritage Park

That drop off does not look all that dire, not that I'd want to go over that mini-Niagara Falls floating on an inner tube.

I wonder if a Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floater went over the falls, thus prompting the installation of the orange boom and the TURN AROUND DON'T DROWN warning sign?