Feds say large-scale version of Trinity Parkway only thing being considered
Dallas’ planned Trinity Parkway cannot be built significantly different than the massive, high-speed toll road submitted for federal approval unless city officials delay the project up to two years or start over altogether, according to federal officials.
Federal Highway Administration officials this week told State Rep. Rafael Anchia that if the agency gives the go ahead for construction of the mostly six-lane road awaiting clearance, “that is the only project that can be built using our environmental approval.”
The federal agency’s statements undercut claims from a dwindling number of project supporters that the road could be smaller and slower than what has been designed. The statements also cast doubts on a group of experts visiting Dallas next week having any substantial influence over the project that’s currently being developed. The present iteration of the project has already cost several government entities tens of millions of dollars.
The project could begin as four lanes, but would be expected to eventually go to six, said planning and program director Michael Leary. And dropping the speed limit would likely require city officials to start back at square one, since Trinity Parkway’s purpose is described in federal documents as a reliever for surrounding high-speed freeways.
“If the purpose and need changes, the FHWA environmental decision is no longer valid,” Leary said.
Mayor Mike Rawlings, former City Council member Craig Holcomb, former city manager Mary Suhm and regional transportation director Michael Morris have pitched to an increasingly critical public the idea that the massive road shown in documents may not be what is built.
Holcomb said at Anchia’s town hall about the project Wednesday that the city wants to build something more like the smaller version described in the 11-year-old Trinity River vision document called the Balanced Vision Plan.
“That is a simple truth,” Holcomb said Wednesday.
That document calls for only four lanes south of the Continental Avenue bridge at least until 2025. It also expected the road to provide scenic views of the river and planned lakes alongside it. But what federal officials are considering is a bigger road that has six tolled lanes and sometimes up to four maintenance lanes and shoulders. It would also have a flood wall that would not necessarily prevent flooding in a 100-year storm, but would block the scenic views of the river.
I’m awaiting word from Anchia, Rawlings, Suhm, Holcomb, Morris, the FHWA and the North Texas Tollway Authority, who submitted the environmental documents seeking federal approval.
Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs, who was one of the anti-toll road panelists Wednesday, said he doesn’t believe there are plans to build anything smaller than what has been designed so far.
“I don’t think the public is getting the full story,” he said.