FoUTASportscaster

WFAA's poll has the tollroad opponents ahead.

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/d....1c4a4502f.html

jsoto3

It's been that way since they started the poll, with the opposition increasing over time.

LH_Newbie

Some people equate successful businesspeople and money with being intelligent.

BigD5349

To explain this, there's a famous saying by Napoleon that come to mind:

"Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest."

BigD5349

Vote No! Starts Making Sense
by Sam Merten Sun, Nov 4, 2007, 02:48 PM

Stop. The. Press.

Laura Miller said a 45-mph parkway is better for the environment than a high-speed toll road.

Dr. Elba Garcia said this was sold was a green area, and she won’t support any highway in between the levees.

Veletta Lill said the toll road is a hulking mass and a visual obstruction.

Ed Oakley said he doesn’t like the idea of a concrete canyon going down the river.

Mark Housewright said he was confused as a voter in 1998 and wasn’t sure if the road was going to be a tollway or not.

Is it really true? Have all these Vote No! people suddenly seen the light and joined Vote Yes! just before the election?

No. They haven’t raised the white flag. However, that is what they were saying in May 2002.

Now take a chill pill all you Vote No’ers out there. I realize that a lot has changed in the 5 ½ years since these comments were made, most notably the adoption of the Balanced Vision Plan. Yet I’ll argue what was said then hasn’t lost any of its meaning and is actually more powerful today than it was then.

So let me take you back to May 29, 2002. It was a special briefing of the City Council called the Trinity Summit. Notable attendees were Assistant City Manager Jill Jordan, Director of the Trinity River Project Rebecca Dugger, former TxDOT District Engineer Jay Nelson, former NTTA Executive Director Jerry Hiebert and North Central Texas Council of Governments Director of Transportation Michael Morris.

It was former Mayor Laura Miller’s 101st day in office. Her goal was to get a consensus as to where the road element of the Trinity Project was going to go, she said. Joining her were all 14 council members, including several prominent figures from the current Vote No! and Yes! campaigns.

“I’m going to commit heresy and throw a little editorial comment into where we are,” Miller said.

She explained that the council was briefed on the Trinity Project for four years and given pictures of what was going to be done. Miller said she was never given the invitation as a council member to decide if what she was seeing actually worked. She then encouraged the council to “think outside of usual parameters of conversations.”

Hmm…sound familiar? This sounds a lot like Angela Hunt’s story of beginning to learn about the Trinity Project through PowerPoint presentations that contained pretty pictures but lacked actual information.

Miller said she determined that putting the road on the Oak Cliff side was a bad idea. She made it clear that while the speed of the road and other things couldn’t be determined at the briefing, it sure would be nice if everyone could agree that the split alignment, which would have roads on both the Oak Cliff and downtown sides, was naughty. Before yielding the floor back to the council, she offered up this for consideration.

“Is there a way to design a good-looking road that’s not just a standard, huge, concrete box tollway? Is there a way to move at least 80,000 cars a day off of Stemmons, but put it on a road that’s aesthetically attractive that will compliment the inside of the river bottom and the lake? Is that possible? Why isn’t that possible?”

All fabulous questions -- ones that she eventually tried to address with the Balanced Vision Plan. Yet Dallas is still stuck with a standard, huge, concrete box tollway in its floodway.

Let’s move on to Alan Walne. I have to hand it to him, at least he’s consistent. Walne has been saying that he voted for the 1998 bond because of the transportation element, and that’s what he said in 2002. He also said he promised his constituents that making the road a tollway would get them back their $84 million and accelerate the Canyon/Mixmaster reconstruction.

Texas Transportation Chairman Ric Williamson has already busted the myth that the removal of the Trinity Parkway would derail the reconstruction of the Canyon/Mixmaster, but it turns out former TxDOT District Engineer Jay Nelson already did so after questioning from Walne.

“Jay, if in fact the roadway were to become a non-toll road and become a free road, would that affect TxDOT’s commitment on the acceleration of the Canyon reconstruction?” Walne said.

“There is a way, engineering wise, to reconstruct the Canyon/Mixmaster without the reliever, but the expense would be considerably more and the impact would be considerably more on people driving through the facility. And you’d see a lot more diversion of the traffic into the city street system.” Nelson said.

Nelson also added that he couldn’t recall a statement made by TxDOT saying there would be an acceleration of the Canyon/Mixmaster reconstruction.

Whoops. There goes one of the promises Walne made to his constituents. Now what about that $84 million?

“What we were told and what I went out and told the public was we’re going to get paid back $84 million,” Walne said.

Sandy Greyson disagreed.

“They made it very clear to us, through the Tollway Authority, that we may get paid back. May. After the bond holders got all their money back, after all other financial commitments had been met, we may get our $84 million back. That was always made abundantly clear to us. It’s not a certainty.”

Miller asked if $84 million was the reimbursement number and if it was all of the money that was going to be given back. Rebecca Dugger answered, “Except for right-of-way costs for the NTTA.”

“And if you don’t have a toll road, you’re not going to get paid back any of it, regardless of the actual percentage was,” Walne said.

So at this point, Walne had already broken both of the promises that he sold to his constituents. He was just told that there was no way all of the $84 million could ever be paid back. Yet Walne continues to sell this, as I heard in a debate in Lake Highlands. Councilmember Ron Natinsky made the same statement about getting the $84 million back in a North Dallas debate.

When I asked Mayor Leppert about the statement by Natinsky, he dismissed the statement, saying it wasn't a guarantee. He said certain things needed to work out.

However, what Leppert, Walne, Natinsky and anyone else refuse to admit about the $84 million is that there is a guarantee. The City of Dallas is guaranteed to get back exactly $0.

Why? Well, because the Mayor said so. At the Temple Emanu-El debate, Leppert quoted the right-of-way acquisition for the current alignment at $88 million. He was actually trying to use this in a strange way to compare the Trinity Turnpike and the extension to the Dallas North Tollway, but he failed miserably.

So if right-of-way costs are to be subtracted from the reimbursement amount, which is explained in the ILA, then let’s see…84 minus 88.

Back to ’02 where some free flowin’ discussion started going back and forth about whether people knew it was a 45-mph road or a 55-mph road. Outta nowhere, Miller dropped this bombshell.

“You know, a 45-mph parkway is a whole lot better for the environment and air quality than people going 70 mph on a tollway.”

I think I rewound the tape and listened to that one a dozen times. I don’t care if she said that in 2002, 2007 or 1997, she can’t hide from that one.

OK, scratch that. I guess Vote No! has been doing a good job of keeping Miller in hiding throughout the campaign.

Miller also exposed some strange thinking on behalf of the council when Jill Jordan was asked about cost estimates. Jordan said the cost for a 45-mph six-lane parkway would have been $300 million, while the cost for the combined eight-lane toll road was $620 million.

“Then if you take out the NTTA’s $150 million [from the ILA] and the city’s $84 million, then that is about $386 million that TxDOT would have to pick up versus $225 million if we do a parkway, not a tollway. Right? So it’s a $125 million difference.” Miller said.

OK, so Miller was using some fuzzy math. The $225 million should have been $216 million, with a difference of $170 million, not $125 million. But, hey, what’s $45 million?

Here’s my point. Miller just showed everyone that the 45-mph parkway that she said earlier was better for air quality and the environment would require $170 million LESS in funding from TxDOT, and the response from the council was…crickets.

Along with Walne, another person who was remarkably consistent in their statements in what they said then and what they’re saying now was Sandy Greyson. She said there had to be a better way than to build the road between the levees and the recreation component of the Trinity Project, which is what she sold to her constituents, would be damaged by a tollway.

Greyson said she hoped the council wasn’t so focused on building the road in the levees that alternate routes weren’t explored. She also expressed her willingness to take this issue back to the voters.

“It almost sounds like a forgone conclusion that we’re going to have a road and the only thing we’re going to decide today is what side of the river the road is going to go on and what speed the road is going to be. I think that’s a real shame. I think we have a huge opportunity here today to take a look at what we want our city to be in the future.”

OK, you’ve been patient. You’ve been dying to hear from Veletta Lill, who has been regularly debating on behalf of Vote No!

Lill made it clear that she was not a fan of the toll road in between the levees. She said her constituents voted for the recreational amenities, and she was concerned about the visual clutter and infrastructure that would detract from those amenities.

“Mayor, I’m sorry you weren’t here because my concern, and apparently you had raised it, about the combined parkway is that the large, hulking mass and I am very much opposed to any kind of…you love it when I use…”

“Well, hulking mass…” Walne said.

“Well, it’s a visual obstruction and people don’t want to be around those kinds of things and then you have stuff that gets up underneath them and people graffiti them. And people just don’t want to be around them and I think that is a disincentive for development. We are putting a Calatrava Bridge there that should add great beauty and it would detract from that great beauty. We do not want to spend those kinds of dollars to do anything but create a framework around it which enhances it.”

Wow. I almost fell out of my chair on that one.

I’m sure Lill would say the road is no longer the “hulking mass” and “visual clutter” that it once was in 2002 because of the Balanced Vision Plan. But c’mon. This is going to be the Dallas North Tollway running along side the downtown Trinity Park. It will be a hulking mass and will provide visual clutter. It will detract from the beauty of the Calatrava Bridges.

Not to be outdone by Lill, Mayor Pro Tem Dr. Elba Garcia sounded like she was in the Yes! camp as well. Garcia, a freshman council member at the time, said the Trinity Project probably started as a way to relieve traffic, but it was sold as a green area and a recreational park with amenities. She referenced an email from one of her constituents urging her to “preserve, restore and enhance the natural balance of the Trinity River.”

“And we have to be sure that that is a guarantee because if we do that, people will come. Otherwise, we’re just going to have another barrier that is going to divide the North from the South. I think Ms. Greyson expressed it very, very well. Once you don’t take care of your natural elements, we’re doomed. And I will not support anything inside the levees, no kind of highway.”

As with Lill, I’m sure Garcia’s excuse would be that soooooo much has changed since 2002. I mean, the Balanced Vision Plan changed everything, right? Well, I don’t think anyone would dispute that the Dallas North Tollway is a highway and since that’s what is being put inside the levees, then I’ll label Garcia a hypocrite.

After some rambling from Maxine Thornton-Reese, John Loza took the floor. Loza said the recreational component is what attracted people to this project and why the bond package passed. He said he was skeptical of making the road a tollway all along, and if there was going to be a road, it needed to be a low-speed road and not a tollway.

Loza said putting a toll road in the levees would run the risk of making the recreation so unattractive and inaccessible that no one would use them. He also echoed Sandy Greyson’s statement of bringing the issue back to the voters.

“If we fumble this opportunity to do something with the Trinity River corridor, it will take generations of Dallasites to undo the mistakes that we have made. And we don’t want to do that.”

Mark Housewright said he originally got involved in the Trinity River Project because he was “a firm believer in keeping the roadway out of the floodplain.” Of course, I think he should have been much more concerned about the road being in a floodway, but I’ve already covered that.

Housewright said he wanted to see the road go down Industrial Boulevard, and he pushed for that “until it became painfully obvious that it was going to be very expensive” and he would never see the result. He said he switched over to putting it inside the floodway for time and money reasons.

Isn’t that admirable? He was so gosh darned concerned about putting a toll road in Dallas’ floodplain that he fought until money and time got in his way. I guess the new policy at City Hall should be: The Quicker. The Cheaper. The Better.

What amazing inspiration from Housewright, who admitted he was confused as a voter on the Trinity Project during an exchange with Jill Jordan.

“At the point that the referendum was held, we were discussing going to the tollway, but there was no clear-cut decision at that point, was there?” Housewright said.

Jordan said although the agreement between the NTTA and City of Dallas was signed after the vote, newspaper articles and city materials said it was a toll facility.

“Then I’ll have to say I was a little confused at the time as a voter, wasn’t privy to council hearings and that. The tan booklet does say that we may be in a joint venture with the NTTA, but then it goes on later in the descriptive narrative there to say that it was under consideration. And I as a voter wouldn’t have taken that at the time to say that we had made a further determination either way.” Housewright said.

“As I said, we didn’t sign the agreement until like a year later.” Jordan said.

So if you’re a little exhausted after 2,500 words, I understand. Take a break. Grab a snack. Then come back for the rest.

All right. Welcome back. More from Veletta Lill still to come if you can believe it.

But I’ll start with Ed Oakley, who didn’t say a lot but didn’t sound like much of a fan of the toll road.

“I don’t like the idea of a concrete canyon going down through the river either. I think if we could eliminate it and just throw that piece of it out, the rest of the pieces of the puzzle are great pieces.”

Boy, for someone who didn’t like the idea of a “concrete canyon” in the floodway and wanted to toss the road out of the project completely, he sure didn’t do a damn thing about it when he was the chair of the Trinity River Committee.

“But where do you put it? How do you build a road project that relieves the kind of necessity that we have to out of the Canyon? I don’t know. I’m not a road expert, but they’re sitting here telling us to make a decision because the cost only escalates.”

Gee, I dunno, Ed. Maybe you look around the room at everyone else expressing concern about having the road inside the levees and take a stand. Maybe you do what you think is right instead of bowing to the pressure of escalating costs. Oakley also said he would be OK with going back to the voters with the road.

This Housewright/Oakley motto of quick and cheap ended up where? A delayed project with escalating costs. Thanks guys.

Mitchell Rasansky, who might be the hardest one to figure out how he ended up on the Vote No! side being such a fiscal conservative and all, was getting his feet wet on the council in 2002 and made it known he needed much more information. However, much like almost everyone in the room, he wasn’t keen on the idea of building this road in the floodway.

“I think it’s important to see what kind of road we want. I don’t think I’m going to support a road inside the levees. I really don’t think I’m going to support that at all. I can see development on the outside.”

Rasansky was smart to be noncommittal in his statements. But you have to wonder what possibly could have changed his mind, especially given what he said about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“I’m not so sure that I concur with the Corps of Engineers. I don’t know. I want some more information.”

After citizens (Bob Meckfessel and Donna Halstead were among them) were given the opportunity to speak, it was Round 2 for the council members. Alan Walne cited the 1.7 percent margin in the ’98 vote and said he believed at least 2 percent of the people voted for the bond package based on the transportation element.

When Veletta Lill took the mic for the second time, she addressed Walne’s comment and provided more quotes you’d expect to hear from Angela Hunt.

“Mr. Walne, I know you believe that 2 percent may have voted for the transportation, but there are probably 10 percent out there that didn’t vote for that project because they didn’t want a high-speed tollway through that corridor and they may indeed be coming over to the fact that if it were a low-speed parkway, they would indeed like that. So we’re still arguing.”

“Maybe you’ll get a chance to put it back to them that way and we’ll see,” Walne said.

“The ballot itself said the Trinity Parkway and related street improvements. It didn’t say high-speed tollway or any of that. It doesn’t say that. And I know we have this belief that we are going to solve the region’s transportation problems and challenges by putting this road beneath them. But, interestingly enough folks, I represent a district where we passionately don’t believe in expanding our roads, and it’s developing at a pretty high rate and has the highest density. So it wasn’t because we had really big roads in there that people came to that area of town -- to a Turtle Creek or to another area of the city. It was because they like Turtle Creek Parkway, the parkway aspect of it.”

Gee, thanks Angela, er, I mean Veletta.

Lill also said she wanted to continue to advocate looking into a lower-speed road.

So what came of this big meeting that lasted past 6 p.m.?

Well, it turns out nothing was accomplished outside of the discussion. Miller was hoping to eliminate the split parkway option to keep the road off the Oak Cliff side, but that was foiled at the last minute when a staff member brought up a concern that forced the meeting to an awkward adjournment.

However, Miller did ask the Transportation Committee to look into options outside the levees, and she also put an end to any thoughts about Industrial as an alternative.

“The thing that could make us move forward a little bit is to say we’re not going to do Industrial. I mean, I don’t think we’re going to do Industrial. That’s not an option, OK? Ed said it, his district, Loza’s district. We’re not going to do Industrial. It’s crazy expensive. It’s too much eminent domain. The property owners will go nuts. We’re not going to do that. I don’t care what the EIS says. We’re not going to do that.”

This meeting also set the stage for Miller’s Balanced Vision Plan as she expressed a desire to hire an outside firm using private money to bring all the pieces of the project together.

This brings us full circle back to 2007.

The Balanced Vision Plan is the thing many Vote No’ers point to as why everything is so great. Look at how the lakes have improved and all the recreational amenities, they’ll tell ya. And the lanes on the road have gone down from eight to six! Isn’t that swell?

Nobody has a problem with the improvements to the park. In fact, those improvements make it that much more important to get the toll road out of the park.

The original BVP restricted trucks and had 12 access points to the park among other things. While it’s unknown if trucks will be using the road, Vote No! sure thinks there will be. As for access points, right now there are five, and it’s not even direct access to the park.

For anyone to act like the BVP excuses their statements from 2002, I’m not buying it. There is still, as Sam Coats would say, a honkin’ toll road in the floodway.

The consensus from this meeting seemed that no one really wanted this road in the park, but the only ones to stay true to their comments were Sandy Greyson and John Loza.

Miller’s statements about Industrial prove it was never seriously considered as an option. Now we know it should have been.

We can’t go back in time and change the past, but something can be done about Dallas’ future.

Vote FOR Proposition 1 because a high-speed toll road is bad for the environment.

Vote FOR Proposition 1 because the 1998 bond package was sold as a green space and you want to keep it that way.

Vote FOR Proposition 1 because you think the toll road will be a hulking mass and a visual obstruction in the park.

Vote FOR Proposition 1 because you don’t like the idea of a concrete canyon going down the river.

Vote FOR Proposition 1 because you were confused as a voter in 1998 and weren’t sure if the road was going to be a toll road or not.

Vote FOR Proposition 1 because promises were made about the road that weren’t true.

Vote FOR Proposition 1 because elected leaders made decisions on this road based on money and time instead of what was best for Dallas and its citizens.

I’m going to try to crank out one more Trinity column before the big vote Tuesday, so check back for it. I’ll attempt to bring everything together, if that’s even possible. Hopefully I can keep it under 3,900 words, but I’m not makin’ any promises.

FoUTASportscaster

Another good piece by Sam Merten. Apparently, a lot of the Vote No parrots may have said a different line 5 years ago.

http://www.dallasblog.com/200711041...king-sense.html

DFWCRE8TIVE

In Dallas, a Fight Over the Land Between the Levees
November 03, 2007
http://weekendamerica.publicradio.o...a_fight_ov.html

On November 6th, voters in Dallas have a ballot question before them: Should the city build a toll-road along its river? Opponents of the toll-road say it puts the city more at risk of a catastrophic flood, and it will ruin a planned park. Supporters say that without the road, Dallas will strangle itself on traffic jams. Weekend America's Julia Barton navigates Dallas' wild river, portaging over log jams, clambering the muddy banks, whacking through head-high grass to find whether Big D is ready to embrace its soggy center.

---
By Julia Barton

In all my life, I've never seen people so excited about the Trinity. First, there's this homemade Macintosh ad spoof on You Tube. You see two guys standing in front of political signs. The "Vote NO!" guy has on a suit and tie, and he's smoking a cigar. The "Vote YES!" guy is in a black Polartec pull-over. "Hello, I'm a park," he says.

"And I'm a [bleep]in' toll way," Mr. Vote NO responds.

"Wow, toll way, do you think you could tone down the language and try to stop smoking?"

Vote NO! guy blows smoke at him. "Dude, I'm a frickin' highway! I produce carbon emissions and have a chronic case of Tourette's syndrome from road rage. Get used to it if you want to be next to me."

And so on.

Then there's a new rap song on the radio, produced by local hip-hop star Dooney "Da' Priest."
Vote No!
Let's ease up the traffic!
Ease up on the taxes!
November da 6th
Come out by the masses!
Vote No!
If you wanna see the Trinity changed ...

Most people don't think of Dallas as a river town, and that includes most people in Dallas. But west of downtown, past the freeway and the county prison, sits the Trinity flood way. It's a half-mile wide, ten-mile-long, weedy strip through the heart of the city, walled off by 29-foot levees. The Trinity River runs down the middle of it. Most Dallas residents have only glimpsed the river from one of the high bridges over the flood way. If you want to get much closer than that, you'll want to find Charles Allen.

"Well, what we're gonna do here is we're go down the river bank ... and I'll take the downhill end of it, and the main thing is not to go to fast," he says, as we drag our canoe down to the river.

Allen is wiry, with long blond hair, round glasses, and an Australian outback hat. He communes with nature by stopping his canoe to suck down a Marlboro. He's the Trinity's only guide in Dallas. In the past three decades coming down here, he's seen maybe a dozen other boats on the river.

"I like wilderness, solitude," he says as we paddle downstream. "You know, we're surrounded by people, we live in a human made, human-oriented environment all the time in a city like Dallas. Out here it's different--you're really on your own. You really have to be dependent on yourself."

The muddy current pushes our canoe along. A huge blue heron follows ahead, drifting from tree to tree.

The original Trinity River was meandering and low. It looked like a great waterway for a town, until 1908, when the river rose and washed half of Dallas away. So bulldozers built this channel starting in the late 1920s. The city walled off the river from its original course, and in some ways forgot about it.

"We don't think about the river coming up and flooding. It doesn't flood every year--it'll go a number of years, and then there'll be a big flood," Allen says.

Today the river's flow is completely managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. One day it's high, the next low, as they release water from upstream reservoirs to keep the region dry. The Trinity also acts as the city's storm sewer. Fallen trees are festooned with plastic bags; piles of driftwood include all kinds of trash. I get the feeling people point that out to Charles all the time.

"You know, people are not as familiar with things like trees and rivers and birds and things like that, and sometimes we'll key in on things that are more familiar," he tells me. "We see a plastic oil jug floating by and it's like, 'oh, man, there's trash.' And we won't see the great egret overhead that's croaking."

And indeed, there is an egret soaring overhead. The nature is really great until we get stuck in it downstream. A blockade of fallen trees forces us to stop and clamber up the steep, muddy banks to look around. We're in the middle of Dallas, but all I can see is an endless stretch of head-high Johnson grass and ragweed. We could call someone on our cell phones, but they couldn't get to us without a machete.

It's even hairier trying to whack through all the rhetoric about the river these days. The faction supporting Tuesday's referendum envisions a sun-drenched park between the levees—a place with soccer fields, biking trails and even a couple of lakes. The other side says there's room for all that and a four-to-six lane, high-speed toll road inside the length of the eastern levee. But in debates around the city, Councilwoman Angela Hunt says the two cannot co-exist.

"There are lots of places to put this road, but there's only one place to put this park. So what is your alternative for the park?" she asked in a Sept. 25 debate with the mayor. The audience broke into wild applause.

Hunt says back in 1998, Dallas voters were hoodwinked when they approved a bond initiative to revamp the flood way. She says they approved a meandering access road, not the billion-dollar-plus toll way now in the planning stages.

"How is this the same thing?" she asks. "I realized this project has gotten off course."

Hunt and her allies say you wouldn't put a highway through Central Park—and that's what they say the Trinity could be, Dallas's Central Park. But long-time park advocate Gail Thomas, who heads a group called The Trinity Trust, says the city may have no choice.

"I think the toll parkway is definitely a compromise. You know, Dallas is very popular destination place. We're one of the fastest growing areas in the United States. We have over 300 cars a day added to our freeways," she says.

And Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert says the road is crucial to disentangling a horrible intersection of three interstates in Dallas. "Both U.S. Senators ask you to vote no. The entire congressional delegation—the entire congressional delegation—urges you to vote no," he told the crowd at the debate. "If we lose this opportunity, we lose it for generations into the future. It is just too important." That line also got applause.

Back on the Trinity River, Charles Allen and I manage to get our canoe back in the water, and now we're near the end of our hot journey. My right leg got dunked in the river upstream, and a mélange of parasitic bacteria are feasting, I imagine, on the open scab on my knee.

We go under one final bridge, a low one for Sylvan Avenue. I notice there's debris lodged in its trusses underneath. "Oh yeah, high water will go over this bridge, it will go totally underwater, which it was earlier this year," Charles says.

Underwater: that's where both the Trinity park and toll road could end up. And worse, if you believe some doomsayers who warn that Dallas is just one bad storm season from becoming the next New Orleans. Which kind of begs the whole question of what this city is doing so close to a dangerous river. The answer is that this was supposed to be an inland port. The river would be a way out for all the region's crops and wealth. Only that never happened. The Trinity is too ornery. Charles Allen's canoe is the only boat left.

"I think I've actually achieved commercial navigation on the Trinity," he laughs.

When you grow up in a city with its river behind walls, you always feel like something's missing. There's no stopping place, nowhere to look out over the water and see a way out. And really, that's what both sides are talking about now. One side wants a quiet place to go and look at the river, and feel a little peace. The other side wants a canal for cars and trucks to escape gridlock downtown, and feel a little peace.

We finally reach the take-out. Though he loves being out on the river, even Charles sounds a little relieved. "Civilization, oh wow!" he calls to his buddy who's come to pick us up.

"The water's up," the friend calls down to us.

"There's some water out there," Charles says as he maneuvers the canoe into place. "And some logs."

And we get out on dry land, back to our cars and the city that surrounds us.

DFWCRE8TIVE

Interesting photos of the Trinity and floodway:

SLIDESHOW

FoUTASportscaster

I made a poll to get a highly unofficial forum opinion regarding the Trinity election.

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/showthread.php?t=7370

BigD5349

DFWCRE8TIVE

I like the others but this one is a bit odd...

DFWCRE8TIVE

Vote today on Trinity project, schools, state issues
After months of debate on referendum, a few votes could drive Dallas project's future
12:29 AM CST on Tuesday, November 6, 2007
By DAVE LEVINTHAL and RUDOLPH BUSH / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...dv.373af42.html

Leaders on both sides of Dallas' Trinity River toll road referendum consider today's vote among the most critical in city history.

So much for the hype, however: Dallas County Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet said Monday that he continues to predict a 10 percent turnout among registered voters.

That means the fate of one of the city's most ambitious public works projects in generations will be decided by a tiny fraction of its residents – perhaps 50,000 or 60,000 in a city of more than 1.2 million.

Those who venture to the polls in Dallas will join voters in a number of North Texas cities who will choose candidates and decide issues ranging from wet-dry initiatives to school bond elections. Statewide, voters will consider more than a dozen constitutional amendments, including one to allow bonds to fund cancer research.

In Dallas, council member Angela Hunt, the leader of the anti-toll-road TrinityVote movement, said the more people who turn out at the polls, the better the chances the toll road will be defeated.

"We are doing everything we can to get our folks out there," she said.

Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, a leader of the pro-toll-road Vote No! Save the Trinity campaign, says he believes turnout will be low. But that shouldn't diminish the importance of Tuesday's vote, he insisted.

"It's an issue that, as I've tried to say, is as important as any vote we'll take in the next 20 years," Mr. Leppert said.

The mayor described himself as "cautiously optimistic" that voters would defeat Proposition 1.

Ms. Hunt wouldn't wager a guess on the outcome but said she was proud of what the "vote yes" campaign had accomplished.

"I really do feel like we did an exceptional job for a grass-roots campaign ... especially considering we don't have the deep pockets our opponents do," she said.

Today's vote comes nine years after Dallas voters narrowly approved $246 million in initial bond funds for what's grown into a complex project encompassing park, recreation, flood-control and transportation elements.

Advocates of Proposition 1, which would in part limit any highway constructed within the Trinity River Corridor's earthen levees to four lanes with a 35 mph speed limit, argue that a high-speed toll road would irreparably harm a massive urban park planned as part of Dallas' overall Trinity public works effort.

Proposition 1 opponents say, however, that blocking the planned inside-the-levees toll road would cause needless delays and cost overruns for a project that's on the verge of realization after years of holdups.

Ms. Hunt first launched her anti-toll-road effort in March. This summer, the city secretary's office ruled that she collected enough voter signatures to prompt a citywide referendum on whether to block the planned Trinity road's creation.

Since then, organizations on both sides of the issue have collectively spent more than $1 million to capture the fancy of Dallas voters.

Last-minute efforts

But on Monday, council members acted as if Election Day were just another day on the calendar. The Trinity River toll road received scant mention at Monday's City Council briefing at City Hall.

For instance, of the 10 events on Mr. Leppert's official schedule today, only two of them are directly related to the vote on Proposition 1 – greeting voters early this morning and watching poll results at a Vote No vote-return party at Gilley's Dallas in the city's Cedars neighborhood south of downtown.

That doesn't mean both sides weren't engaged Monday in get-out-the-vote efforts, with TV and radio advertisements representing both positions saturating the airwaves.

Ms. Hunt left the council meeting early to campaign on behalf of TrinityVote.

Vote No forces, meanwhile, were busy making phone calls in hopes of driving prospective voters to the polls.

Project's life after vote

No matter the outcome, there is life for the Trinity River Corridor project – however uncertain – after today's vote.

Mr. Leppert, for example, is planning to conduct a 10 a.m. Wednesday news conference – then proceed to a promotional event downtown for the upcoming Texas Stampede.

As for a much-ballyhooed, expert- and dignitary-rich "Designing the Trinity" summit scheduled for Nov. 16?

"Far as I know, we will still have the event regardless of the outcome. Either way, it will be very topical," event spokeswoman Juliette Coulter said.

And according to an advance copy of the City Council agenda for Monday, city officials are moving forward with several elements of the Trinity park plan.

That day, the council is expected to approve a number of pro forma items related to the park's development. Among them are the planned transfer of right of way to the Texas Department of Transportation for the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and the authorization of a rainwater collection system for the planned Trinity River Audubon Center.

"We have different pots of money" for different areas of the Trinity park, said Rebecca Dugger, director of the city's Trinity River Corridor Project.

Ms. Dugger said many elements of the park are funded and won't be affected if the toll road is defeated today. It's the lakes and park access roads that are nearest to the proposed tollway that are in danger of losing funding, she said.

"It's really the center part of the project that's going to be impacted and that gives us the most concern depending on the outcome of the vote tomorrow," she said.

dlevinthal@dallasnews.com;

rbush@dallasnews.com

DFWCRE8TIVE

Dallas to Vote on Remaking City
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/05/u...&hp&oref=slogin
By GRETEL C. KOVACH
Published: November 5, 2007

DALLAS, Nov. 5 — Municipal officials here recognized decades ago that the grassy flood plain cutting a swath through the city could be transformed into a vast park.

But the $1.7 billion effort to remake the heart of the 10,000-acre Trinity River corridor into a downtown oasis of lakes, athletic fields, nature exhibits and trails framed by towering designer bridges has hit a major detour.

On Tuesday voters will decide whether to scrap plans for a toll road within the park, a move that critics say would disrupt an intricate arrangement of public and private financing and place the whole park plan in jeopardy.

Dallas voters had approved a $246 million bond issue in 1998 for the Trinity River Corridor Project, which called for development of the park, flood control improvements and a “parkway.”

But City Councilwoman Angela Hunt, who is leading the opposition to the toll road, said what had been envisioned as a low speed thoroughfare kept growing over the years until it took over the Trinity park plan. “We are going to build many roadways in coming decades,” she added, “but we only have one opportunity to transform our city through this park.”

Like many other cities, Dallas is trying to balance its need to reduce traffic congestion with the desire for vibrant urban green space and waterfront development.

Portland, Ore., San Francisco, New York, Milwaukee and Cincinnati are among the cities that have demolished or scaled back major freeways to redevelop waterfront areas. Similar efforts are being debated now in Seattle and Buffalo.

Waterfront revitalization is part of a nationwide shift from an industrial to a technological economy, said Harris Steinberg, executive director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Praxis design clinic. “Waterfronts are really the playgrounds of the knowledge economy. This is what is going to attract the 20- and 30-somethings who will be the life blood of our future cities.”

Mayor Tom Leppert of Dallas has much of the business elite, and all of Ms. Hunt’s City Council colleagues, behind him when he insists that placing the toll road within the new park is the only good option. The traffic-choked downtown needs a “reliever road,” and putting it elsewhere would raise costs by hundreds of millions of dollars, Mr. Leppert said.

The flood plain traversing downtown Dallas is flanked by levees, and designing a major road between them has been an engineering challenge. But using that vacant land avoids the problems and costs of eminent domain proceedings in a dense urban area, he said.

In August, county officials wrote a letter to the mayor and city council threatening to ask for their $6 million back if the highway is voted down, saying it was “critical for future congestion relief efforts” in the county.

But Ms. Hunt unearthed a state transportation study indicating that the Trinity toll road could eventually increase smog and greenhouse emissions.

While the toll road supporters and opponents shout it out and accuse each other of defacing their yard signs, the first of at least two new bridges to cross the park is in production in Italy.

The park will not be complete until perhaps 2014, and Sylvia Pope, 69, said she doesn’t want any more delays. She stopped at a small billboard propped outside an early voting station Thursday to gaze at the depiction of a tree-lined highway overlooking a lake.

“It’s beautiful,” she said. “This is what we voted for to begin with and we need it, without any detours, without any changes. It’s been too long.”

Mayor Leppert stopped by an early voting station in Oak Cliff Thursday to lobby against the proposition to remove the toll road. “We don’t want to end up paying more taxes, so make sure you vote against it,” Mr. Leppert said, leaning down to speak to 12-year-old Juana Servin, who was translating for her mother, Angelina Rodriguez, standing beside her.

DFWCRE8TIVE

Today is the day the citizens of Dallas determine the future of this city and our most-controversial natural resource.

Four years after jsoto3 commented on this forum, "The highway planners' grand scheme is coming to fruition. Can we have a referendum to retract the bond?!" (11-04-2003) we finally get a say in this increasingly complicated but important issue. Active discussion on this forum which began as the occasional questioning of our city leaders has grown to include the collection of 50,000+ petition signatures, citywide debates and national news coverage. I am proud to be a part of this discussion forum and -- no matter which side wins the vote today -- I am encouraged that the citizens of this city have a way to speak out and be heard.

As another forum member said in 2003 regarding this toll road issue, "It's time Dallas put our fists down and demanded something right instead of appeasing the SUV-driving-enviro-killing-soccer-moms-from-hell. That will be a sign that we're moving towards the status of an actual world-class city."



VOTE TODAY!

msutton

What a scumbag!

__________________
Times weighs down on you like an old, ambiguous dream. You keep on moving, trying to slip through it. But even if you go to the ends of the earth, you won't be able to escape it.
Haruki Murakami

JasonDallas

Is this a blatantly false statement? Is there a $1,700,000,000 effort to build lakes, parks, trails and bridges????

Jason

Lakewooder

TrinityVote Election Watch Party!
Calling all TrinityVote volunteers, contributors, petition gatherers, signature verifiers, poll watchers, phone bankers, and all other supporters! Join us for food, drink, and fun as we as we watch the returns come in on Election Day!


Tuesday, November 6
7pm - ?
The McKinney Avenue Contemporary
3120 McKinney Ave.
(The MAC is just south of Hall Street, next to Cafe Express)


Who is going?

Mballar

Count me in.

__________________
The world is run by those who show up!

Spjz

I liked this one, what happened to it?

lpepping

Are there any voting locations in downtown? I tried using the tool on the Dallas County website to find a voting location but it didn't return any locations for the address I was using.

LH_Newbie

I just cast my "FOR" vote. I was voter #158 in my precinct. The folks there said the turnout was greater than was expected. Sure will be interesting to see what the overall turnout is. As I tell me friends, "You can't bitch unless you vote."

Brian

downtownguy25

lpepping,
I looked up where I am supposed to vote and it came up as 600 Commerce

Lakewooder

lpepping I think you will have to vote at your home precinct.

rosewood

Everyone don't forget to go out and fight the forces of EVIL and the anti-Dallas, anti Growth AND Progress crowd!

VOTE NO!

THE FACTS! THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW!!

Q. What is the Trinity Parkway referendum?
A. The Dallas City Council unanimously called an election for
Tuesday, November 6, 2007, to determine whether the
Trinity Parkway, which was part of the original plan
approved by Dallas voters in 1998, should be moved from
between the levees of the Trinity River Corridor.

Q. Why should I “vote no” against The Angela Hunt Plan?
A. By voting no, the Trinity Project – as approved by the
voters in 1998 – can move forward and deliver flood
protection, lakes, parks, recreational areas, and
transportation improvements. The Trinity Parkway will
provide a much-needed reliever route to improve traffic flow
near downtown.
Taxpayers will get maximum value for their investment,
especially since tolls, federal and state dollars will be used
to pay for 90% of the Trinity Parkway’s cost
It has taken us almost 10 years to get this far. A redesign of
the Trinity Parkway will add at least 5 more years to the
completion date.

Q. Didn’t we already vote on the Trinity Plan in 1998?
A. Yes. In 1998, Dallas citizens voted and approved the Trinity
Parkway between the levees. In fact, the opponents’ ads
from that election mentioned an “eight-lane Tollway inside
the levee.”
Q. What happens if voters defeat The Angela Hunt Plan?
A. If the voters defeat The Angela Hunt Plan, the vision of the
Trinity River project approved in 1998 -- including flood
control, lakes, recreational areas, and transportation
improvements -- will become a reality. The money approved
in the bond election will be combined with toll income and
federal, state and private dollars to create a 10,000-acre
park with lakes, trails, athletic fields and an equestrian
center.

Q. What happens if voters approve The Angela Hunt Plan?
A. If the referendum passes, ten years of work on providing a
reliever route that carries 100,000 vehicles per day must
start over, and transportation improvements on IH 30 and IH
35E for Project Pegasus will be seriously delayed. Other
alignments for the reliever route, such as the widening and
double decking of Stemmons Freeway (IH-35) or Industrial
Blvd., have been examined repeatedly, and, because the
City of Dallas would be required to purchase the right-ofway,
the cost of the reliever route would increase by a
minimum of $300 million.

Q. What are the benefits of the Trinity Parkway?
A. There are many benefits to the Parkway:
?? Drivers who travel on IH-30 or IH-35 know that
Downtown Dallas needs a reliever route. The Parkway
will provide 45% of TxDOT’s planned congestion
reduction in this corridor.
?? Air quality will improve because fewer cars will be stuck
in traffic.
?? The Trinity River Corridor Project will create
36,000 permanent jobs and also enhance economic
development efforts in Dallas’ southern sector.
?? Dallas’ tax base will increase. Plans are in the works
for numerous multi-use developments that will bring
retail, office complexes and housing to the surrounding
area.
?? Other major highway improvements – IH 30 and IH 35E
– can continue.

Q. What is the history of the Trinity River Corridor Project?
A. In 1994, Dallas Mayor Steve Bartlett appointed the
400-member Trinity River Corridor Citizens Committee
(TRCCC) who spent several thousand hours in meetings
balancing the tasks that the Trinity needs to perform – flood
control, lakes, transportation, recreation and economic
development. After years of work, the TRCCC issued a
report that became the basis for the bond program that
Mayor Ron Kirk and the Dallas City Council successfully
took to the voters in 1998.
In 2003, Dallas Mayor Laura Miller used private funds to reexamine
and improve the project. After numerous public
meetings, the Dallas City Council unanimously supported
the revised Balanced Vision Plan. One of the key changes
in the new Plan was to reduce the Parkway from eight lanes
wide, as was originally approved in 1998, to six lanes wide
with only four lanes in the area adjacent to the lakes.
In 2005, the Dallas City Council and the North Texas
Tollway Authority (NTTA) Board expressed a preference for
the current alignment defined in the Balanced Vision Plan.

Q. What is the cost to taxpayers to build the Trinity
Parkway?
A. Dallas taxpayers’ costs for the Trinity Parkway are capped
at $84 million, the amount approved in the 1998 election.
This money will fund environmental and permitting costs,
right-of-way acquisition, utility adjustments, design and
construction. Approximately 90% of the Parkway’s cost will
be funded by the North Texas Tollway Authority through tolls
and by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).
All reasonable options have been extensively studied, and
the alignment inside the levees is hundreds of millions of
dollars cheaper to the Dallas taxpayers.

Q. Will the Trinity Parkway be an ugly eyesore that
dominates the green space within the Park?
A. The Trinity Parkway will be designed to be compatible with a
park. To put the Parkway and the Park in perspective, just
south of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge the Park is
approximately five football fields wide and the Parkway will
take up the area from the 40 yard line to the goal of one of
those fields (120 feet). It will be wider at its northern and
southern terminus and where there are exit and entrance
ramps. NTTA and TxDOT have repeatedly confirmed that
the Parkway will be designed to the same level of
excellence as North Central Expressway.
The NTTA is planning to spend $1 million per mile for
landscaping – TWICE the amount allotted for the President
George Bush Turnpike.

Q. Is it unusual to have a six-lane road next to a park?
A. No, parks and roads CAN and do peacefully co-exist in a
city. Dallas examples include Reverchon Park (along Dallas
North Tollway) and Germany Park (along Dallas North
Tollway with baseball diamonds, running track and tennis
courts).

Q. Will we be able to exit into the Park from the Trinity
Parkway?
A. Absolutely! There will be five access points from the Trinity
Parkway into the Park, located at Hampton Road, Sylvan
Avenue, Jefferson Boulevard, Corinth Avenue and Martin
Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.
In addition, there are pedestrian/bicycle access points into
the Park at approximately half-mile intervals provided by the
NTTA.

Q. Will the Trinity Parkway flood?
A. The Parkway is being built to withstand the 100 year flood.
For comparison, federal highway standards require that
interstate highways be built to withstand the 50 year flood.
When this project is complete, the Trinity levees will
withstand the 800-year flood, which is the standard that the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has set.

Q. If The Angela Hunt Plan is defeated, when will the Trinity
Parkway be complete?
A. Given the current stages of design and environmental
review, the Trinity Parkway is projected to be open in 2014.

Q. Has any progress been made on the Trinity Project?
A. Yes:
?? The lakes are twice as big.
?? The Parkway has been reduced from eight lanes to six
… and four by the lakes.
?? A decade ago, we never heard of the Calatrava Bridges
– and now two bridges are funded.
?? 2,000 acres of land have been purchased for the Great
Trinity Forest.
?? Construction has begun on the Audubon Center and the
Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge.
?? The internationally renowned Audubon Society will
manage the Audubon information center … and raise
funds for it.
?? Wetland Cell D, the Buckeye Trailhead Amenities, the
Sylvan Ave and Loop 12 boat launches and the Levee
Top Trail have been completed.
?? The Texas Horse Park has grown from a $2-million
project to a $30-million project … and half of the money
is being raised privately.
?? The City of Dallas received one of the nation’s top
design awards from the American Institute of Architects
(AIA) for the Trinity project.
?? Federal funding has been acquired: $66 million
appropriated for flood control, $104 million for bridges,
and $439 million included in the Water Resources
Development Act.
• The nonprofit Trinity Trust organization has raised $26
million in private funding – and is committed to raise
another $125 million!

Q. Is it true that the NTTA isn’t paying Dallas anything for
the land … and the City won’t get any toll revenues from
the Parkway?
A. The NTTA will construct the Parkway, and will be
responsible for excavating the lakes and portions of the river
channel relocation, the ongoing maintenance and
landscaping of the road, the wide medians and the
surrounding areas as well as building related infrastructure
such as the foundation of the pedestrian deck.

Q. When is the election, and when is early voting?
A. The election is Tuesday, November 6. Early voting runs
Monday, October 22 – Friday, November 2. For locations
and hours, go to http://dalcoelections.org. For Collin County
and Denton County locations, go to www.co.collin.tx.us or
http://dentoncounty.com, respectively.

Q. Who is eligible to vote in the election?
A. Any registered voter with an address located within Dallas
city limits is eligible to vote in the bond election. Voter
registration is now underway for new voters; however, all
applications must be received in the Voter Registrar’s office
or be postmarked 30 days before an election in order for a
citizen to be eligible to vote in that election.

Q. Have any organizations endorsed the “Vote No!”
position?
A. Yes, the following are working to defeat The Angela Hunt
Plan: American Institutes of Architects (AIA) Dallas,
Apartment Association of Greater Dallas, Dallas Black
Chamber of Commerce, Dallas Citizens Council, Dallas
Council of Engineering Companies, Downtown Dallas,
Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Commerce,
Greater Dallas Chamber, Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber
of Commerce, MetroTex Association of REALTORS, North
Dallas Chamber, North Central Texas Council of
Governments Regional Transportation Council, North Texas
Commercial Association of Realtors, North Texas GLBT
Chamber, Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce, Southeast
Dallas Chamber of Commerce, Stemmons Corridor
Business Association, The Real Estate Council (TREC) and
West Dallas Chamber of Commerce.

Q. How can I learn more and/or support the Vote No! Save
The Trinity effort?
A. Go to www.votenosavethetrinity.com to check out the latest
news, make a donation, request a yard sign or speaker for
your organization, find early voting locations, volunteer and
more, or call (214) 871-3028. Corporate contributions are
acceptable and there is no limit to the amount that you can
give. Contributions are not tax deductible. Make checks
payable to “Vote NO! Save The Trinity,” 3232 McKinney
Ave, #855, Dallas, Texas 75204. To book a speaker, send
an email to taylormayad@sbcglobal.net .

Lakewooder

Does Tom Leppert have an alter ego?

mrowl

if he did, this would be the perfect fit.

xdavidwattsx

I live in Dallas, am pro Dallas, and am voting yes....so suck it.

rosewood

Try reading first. Or ask your mom to read it for you.

Tnekster

Thanks for the info Rosewood!

lpepping

OH ok...I did not realize that.

mikedsjr

You told her. :errrr:

__________________
Listen to the Dividing Line, Pirate Christian Radio, CARM, White Horse Inn and RTS University the most nowadays.....

hamiltonpl

Be careful. I wouldn't tell a cross-dresser to "suck" anything.

__________________
DAGNABBIT!

rosewood

Why communista Hunt and company are beyond the pail on this one:

Q. Have any organizations endorsed the “Vote No!”
position?
A. Yes, the following are working to defeat The Angela Hunt
Plan: American Institutes of Architects (AIA) Dallas,
Apartment Association of Greater Dallas, Dallas Black
Chamber of Commerce, Dallas Citizens Council, Dallas
Council of Engineering Companies, Downtown Dallas,
Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Commerce,
Greater Dallas Chamber, Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber
of Commerce, MetroTex Association of REALTORS, North
Dallas Chamber, North Central Texas Council of
Governments Regional Transportation Council, North Texas
Commercial Association of Realtors, North Texas GLBT
Chamber, Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce, Southeast
Dallas Chamber of Commerce, Stemmons Corridor
Business Association, The Real Estate Council (TREC) and
West Dallas Chamber of Commerce.

Mephis Gooseberry

Thanks again Rose, I am voting No. That road has been on the drawing board since 1962. If we didnt want it then why the hell did we vote for it the first time? We got to put all that dirt from the new lakes and new river channel somewhere.

__________________
From all this we may learn that there are two races of men in this world, but only these two - the "race" of the decent man and the "race" of the indecent man. Viktor E. Frankl

urbanite07

I vote NO - What is the problem with PROGRESS!!!???? People who want to keep Dallas as is or go back 20 years should all move to Odessa/Midland TX!!!

carousel

Miss Rosewood sounds like like the Dallas/Leppert propoganda machine - your reason is less than compelling and not very truthfull - for example, still using the term parkway for your tollroad. And try to convince us that we were so well aware of this tollroad back in 1998. Give me a break. This was supposed to be a park project w/ a meandering parkway - not a toll road project.

And your 1 million dollars of landscaping for every mile of road is a bunch of bologna. This has not been approved by the Army Corps of Engineers nor is it likely to be approved. Considering the City of Dallas cannot even maintain some shrubs in the middle of 75 makes it hard to believe that there is going to be this magnificent landscaping.

Its simple - Vote YES for open and honest government. The Dallas voters have been hoodwinked.

St-T

Vote NO to move forward.

sheilock

what is the objective counterpoint...why are some people voting yes?

carousel

Again the there is no guarantee that the dirt from the lakes is going to be used for the tollroad. It has to be tested by the Army Corps of Enginners and this has not been done nor approved.

DFWCRE8TIVE

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unf...oo.php#comments

To: Ms. Angela Hunt

I am a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at SMU and have long been interested in "network routing" regarding traffic, data communications, and other applications as part of my research. I have great objections to the Trinity Tollway for many reasons, but in the following I limit my objection to an issue that has received too little analysis.

The following is an Op-Ed that I have had signed by SEVEN SENIOR FACULTY of the engineering school at SMU, all agreeing that the issue of how to treat traffic flowing through a major city has not been adequately addressed. This is particularly relevant to the case where several major interstates meet where poor design can contribute heavy traffic to the local infrastructure unrelated to traffic simply flowing in or out of downtown as a destination.

Network routing theory clearly indicates voters should affirm the argument to keep any toll road out of the Trinity corridor. I intend to submit this as an Op-Ed to the Dallas Morning News. I would also be willing to send you a copy for your distribution to appropriate parties when I finish editing tonight. I would like to add that I would be available between now and Nov. 6 for any panel or interview you may be aware of to discuss these issues and related concerns.

I know the pressure is heavy from the other side but I believe their position has many holes that need simply to be professionally discussed by experts not under the influence of contracts to perform services benefiting from the tollway project and related mix-master expansion. You may check my overall vita at the web site engr.smu.edu/~matula I wish you success in a well run campaign against great odds,

David W. Matula
Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Southern Methodist University

---------------------------------------------

Following is the Corrected draft of Saturday Nov. 3 that will be used.

Efficient Traffic Management and Dallas's City Core

A principal assumption in the Trinity corridor debate is that more high speed radial access to the city core with an expensive overhaul of the down town mix-master is essential for efficient through (long haul) traffic management in-and-out of downtown. It should be pointed out that the state-of-the-art for traffic management when two or more major north-south and east-west interstate highways intersect is quite different. Radial design with wide spokes feeding a large interior "directional interchange hub" is an outdated and inflexible solution from the early 1960's era of interstate highway planning.

Directional interchanges are prone to unavoidable delays whenever any of the radial spokes has a loss of capacity. A more cost efficient solution for robust traffic movement is to have one or more high density traffic loops around the core. In contrast to a central hub, the loop allows N-S through traffic to travel either an eastern or western route and concurrently E-W through traffic can take either a northern or southern route.

The loop design has robust engineering properties allowing the North-East (NE) leg to load balance with the SW leg ( NW and SE legs similarly can load balance), allowing more robust response to a traffic disruption and more efficient utilization of capacity from a traffic management viewpoint. The loop solution is more efficient and less costly for handling through traffic allowing arterial traffic into the loop core only as a target destination requiring far less capacity. This is particularly effective when the large majority of the traffic into the core is through traffic.

A beneficial side effect is that the core becomes a livable center of a vibrant 21st century city, rather than a gigantic 1960's era directional interchange hub, with all the charm of an airport waiting room. Voters should recall that the Trinity Corridor bond issue they passed in the 1990's provided specifically for (1) flood control, (2) parks and lakes, and (3) a parkway. We ask that voters today seriously consider these compelling traffic engineering issues and vote for keeping any high speed toll way out of the Trinity Corridor.

As concerned engineering faculty in an institution within the city core, we believe sound traffic management here fits ideally with city core renewal and strongly urge voters to affirm the original intent of the trinity project and vote FOR Proposition 1 on November 6.

David W.Matula, Ph.D.,Computer Science, SMU

Gary Evans, Ph.D.,Electrical Eng., President of the Faculty Senate,SMU

Yildirim Hurmuzlu, Ph.D., Mechanical Eng., SMU

Mandyam Srinath, Ph.D., Electrical Eng., SMU

Tom Chen, Ph.D., Electrical Eng.,SMU

Sukumaran Nair, Ph.D.,P.E.,Computer Science, SMU

Mitchell Thorton, Ph.D.,P.E.,Computer Science, SMU

carousel

A vote YES is certainly not anti progress. Its about getting what we voted for in 98.

DFWCRE8TIVE

This should explain some of the reasons:

http://www.trinityvote.com/faq.asp

KBilly

Vote "No" to cross-dressers who find solace in big, officious groups! :roflmao2:

__________________

xdavidwattsx

Because what you are reading above is based mostly on lies and half truths.....and because people voted on a park, not a toll road.

Rob

Not having a 6 or 8 lane freeway running adjacent to what could be a world-class park?

Lakewooder

St-T you are a no guy?

hamiltonpl

Rosewood and I disagree on many things. I like my women to be born that way. And I prefer grass in my parks over concrete.

Building a park without a freeway is progress. Building a freeway with a park is backwards.

__________________
DAGNABBIT!

mjblazin

Why didn't Dallas get an I-635 as a loop?

auburndan

I voted "for". According to the NTTA's own figures, the Industrial option would cost the same or less than the current plan for putting a road inside the leves. Check out Shutze's colum in the Observer and see for yourself.