Toll road at the edge doesn't spoil Trinity oasis

Dallas Morning News Monday, September 23, 2007

A Road, A Park, or Both?

Dallas City Council member Angela Hunt and her allies have crafted a simple campaign mantra: We don't want a toll road in the middle of our park.

Their message is catchy and cuts straight to the point. After all, plopping a highway smack-dab in the center of a park sounds less than ideal.

Lucky for Dallas residents, that's not what the city aims to do.

As planned, the Trinity River toll road would skirt along the edge of the park, a relatively narrow strip of road dwarfed by expanses of lakes, wetlands, forest and green space. Talk of park-goers choking on exhaust and 18-wheelers obscuring the downtown skyline amounts to campaign hyperbole.

The billion-dollar Trinity River Project has been a long time coming, but more than a decade of work has yielded a plan that will control flooding, ease congestion and create a signature park in the heart of Dallas.

Fast-forward several years. Ms. Hunt's toll road referendum has failed, clearing the way for both the highway and the park to be completed. Those who venture down to the river now find plenty of options for recreation or relaxation.

Along the south side of the park, soccer and softball fields are plentiful. An amphitheater sits nearby. Meander along the miles of trails, through wetlands and green space. Two lakes adjacent to downtown are available for boating and fishing.

Dallas residents can roam the area on foot, bike or even horseback. The less athletically inclined can take in the scenery from a pedestrian plaza overlooking the park.

On the north edge of the river corridor, the Trinity Parkway carries up to 100,000 cars per day, breaking up the perpetual logjam of downtown traffic. Landscaping and sloped turf help separate the road from the recreation, and the sheer size of the park means that the tollway is literally hundreds of yards from much of it.

At its widest point, the park spans nine football fields, or 900 yards. The road covers only 80 yards and sits on the downtown side of the park.

Opponents of the planned Trinity Parkway paint a much different picture, describing a concrete jungle in our oasis, a wide-open expanse of asphalt plowing through a pristine park.

Catchy, but not reality.

It's important to note, though, that this will be an urban park – not a rural retreat. With or without a toll road, traffic will stagger past on nearby highways, bridges will carry cars across the river, and park-goers will be just a stone's throw from the city center.

That's why planners have spent months and years creating a design that carefully blends these distinct elements.

Ms. Hunt and other opponents of the planned tollway know this. But We don't want a well-designed road along the far reaches of our park just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Return to Trinity Project Home Page on the NDNA Web Site