A City of Many Bridges

Dallas has another moniker,the City of Bridges and I don't mean Maggie 1 and Maggie 2 only. There are some 5,000 bridges in the Dallas area according to one Tex Dot estimate. The High 5 added 43 alone. So that got me to thinking. With the work on the High 5 complete, the LBJ Express pretty much done and the I-35 length of 28 miles of re-work plus the Horseshoe Project of the Mix master. The cost totals estimated are from Tex Dots project pages.

Dallas High 5 at $288 Million

I-35E  length  $4.8 Billion

Horseshoe Project $798 Million

That is a combined total of $5.886 Billion of new updated Highways  and I could not find the published cost on the first wave of the LBJ Express Project. It was possible to find how the tolls would be priced, however and some very neat graphics of the total number of lanes and sub-lanes for the project.

Realizing that money comes from all kinds of avenues from Federal to State etc.,etc., the totals do come out about what the news media reported initially when announcing the projects. This isn't about cost anyway. That is an interesting sidebar to the fact that Texans should be proud that they are riding on some of the best and most up-to-day highways in the nation while other states are talking about the vast need to do what Texans have been busy doing the past 15 years.

Recalling that morning that I made the last exit on the old LBJ at U.S. 75 ramp. The big drilling machines were on the clover leaf  to drill the footings for the big green columns. They now make up the 710 columns of the Dallas High 5. Even today, I recall that old clover leaf going north on Central Expressway to westbound LBJ 635. That evening, the exit was closed and detours were rerouted and I can still locate where eventually the one big green column ended up being in that cloverleaf. I will post those in addition to this post since I can only post three images at a time.

Sunday, I drove the new I-30 bridge that now is the Margaret McDermott bridge with the north arch now in place for the very first time. The pictures that follow are from the High 5, the LBJ Express and the I-35E at LBJ 635 and the Horseshoe and the Maggie 2 bridge.

LBJ635 at I-35E

LBJ 635 between Dallas High 5 and I-35E. Officially known as the LBJ Express Project 

The Horseshoe Project which is a remake of the Mix master and new bridges and lanes over the Trinity with the Santiago Calatrava Signature Bridge 2 to be know as the Margaret McDermott Bridge. Also, for ease of ID of the two Margaret Bridges, the McDermott bridge is dubbed Maggie 2 while the Margaret Hunt Hill is known as the Maggie 1. Dubbed for two reasons. First, by chronology in construction and second by the number of arches,  which both co-inside perfectly.

Added Pictures from the High 5

There will be forthcoming several post with three pictures each of the Dallas High 5 and the LBJ IH-35 Project.  Keep watching right here.

Not bad for a high volumn service road, you think?

Moving toward ground zero of the high 5

The big green pilings are the 5th tier--110 feet above grade. Accourding to some articles, this has now passed LA's 5-tier by 10 feet! Everything IS bigger in Texas.

The Massai Culture Right Here In Dallas

Generally, there is a plethora of places from which ideals can be drawn. My ideal well has always been full and seldom sees a drought. Those moments of inspiration do come from that thought well so to speak. They always have. Mom, was creative like that and mine comes from here side of the family tree. Today, opening the door and stepping outside after all the rain and flooding, big puffy billowing clouds against a blue sky awaited me. In just that instant, my thoughts raced ahead of my shooting list to the Dallas High 5.

Dallas High 5
For one, the High 5 is a very unusual forest of concrete pilings that stretches out beyond the project itself and travels west for about 11-miles to another massive interchange of roadways at LBJ Freeway and IH-35E. Of course, the High 5 was built first in 2001 to unstress the high volume of traffic on the LBJ and U.S. Highway 75, Central Expressway.The ground zero point was the old tight-wound traditional 1950s cloverleaf. Then, boom! This giant piling came jetting out the center of that clover leaf and the High 5 was born for Dallas traffic commuters. To this day, my GPS can pinpoint that actual piling and in my head, the vision of  all that came after it is like a Red Box movie.

My first stop was in the mid cross over in front of Texas Instrument's North Campus complex. There is an office complex there where generally Saturdays will find very light use of the parking lot and having inquired with security a long way back if using one of the  out-of-the-way parking spaces would be okay. So, the word was, yes, and then the security guy added, if you need to use it sometime in the future, the area were you described would be okay unless there was a fire or police emergency in the building. Thanking him, I filed that away until today.

Meeting the Maasai Grill people
Moving on, down to the heart of the High 5. Ground Zero..The Center of the Mix. Or, as has been noted at the Starbucks from time-to-time, where the Red Light Camera winks way to much at LBJ and Coit Road. So just before getting to that intersection, a new sign grabbed my attention. Pulling into the parking lot and going inside, I ask a gentleman if I could park there for about 15 minutes or so. Explaining that I needed to take a few pictures of the High 5 and just don't have anyplace to park. He said yes and after wards, I went back inside to thank him and showed him a few pictures of his business that I had taken. It was the high point of my the day.

 He and the lady behind the counter  are native Kenyan people. They are Maasai people. They are Maasai culture. Mom taught me about cloth years ago and I have long admired the color of the cloth that the Maasai people wear.  The restaurant, bar and lounges name was inspired from the Maasai people. Their culture is current and up-to-date. The Tribe in Kenya are well known and associated with Kenya and Northern Tanzania. They are known in the Ngorongoro Crater of Tanzania for more than 150 years as cattle hearding people. It is to the ancestorial Tribe as my Genesis 1:1 beginning is to me.

The menu will feature authentic Kenyan Food, music and dance.

The Menu
On the menu is samosas, chapatti's goat meat, ugali, pilau and much more are offered. They are located on the north side of the west bound service road between SB Central at LBJ and WB service road at Coit. The address is 8059 LBJ Freeway. Go enjoy  authentic Kenyan Maasai food.

Link to a history and culture
Maasai Tribe Information

This family was so nice. They will enjoy greeting you to sample their Kenyan culture

The rock garden greets you as you make your way to the door.

See that truck in the Express lane? The restaurant is immediately on the left on the service road WB. 8059 LBJ at Coit

That pole is pointing to 8059.