Hillary Is Such Old Potatoes

Check out these. The top of the arch is nearly 300 feet above grade.  Shorter than the Maggie 1's 400 feet.  It should be noted that the hike and bike paths are being attached to the north side just  below the roadway level. That will allow for the south crossover of the Trinity to the East Skyline Trails.

The second arch of the Margaret McDermott Bridge  aka Maggie 2 is in place. 

Quiet a view!

The VOR Antenna. Reminds me of the chair swings that go round and round. Except this little jewel is pretty high. 

Thank goodness, July is over. It was a terrible month here in Dallas.  Now, I just have to get past three months of old Potatoes, like Hillary Clinton. Come on Donald bring this heard of cows home.

So after all that, I had to go hang out near a few high places for a while yesterday. Been designing skateboards and it was perfect to get out of the house for a little bit.

Birth of Maggie 2 Has Occured

This is the third day in a row that I have gotten  multi-mile walks done. My strength seems to be coming back as well and I am happy about that. It's been a long journey getting back to as normal as I can remember. My primary care physician and my cardiologist are to thank for most of my good health return.

So, with spring-like temperatures back in north Texas, and two previous days of successful walks, I set out on the longest of the walks.  I drove out Mockingbird to Singleton Blvd. to the base of the Maggie 1 (Margaret Hunt Hill) Bridge to the plaza parking lot. I dreaded going down the steep ramps because the last time I tried to walk it, the grade was a bit of a strain on my cardio system. But, deciding that I would worry about that on the return trip, down the ramp I went. It took me about one-half hour to walk under the Maggie 1, the Union Pacific railroad bridge, the Commerce Street bridge and finally arriving at the I-30 bridge construction site. I felt pretty good too. One of the project engineers was on site with his family and we talked about the project for a bit before they headed out and I started to shoot the site. It was a perfect day with great sun angles and blue sky and most of all--a very light breeze.The flags flapped in the breeze in slow motion. Perfect!

It is amazing how what you learned from shooting Maggie 1 and can now be seen talking shape on nearly the same time table as before. I had estimated that the first arch piece was due to be fitted somewhere around this weekend and sure enough, as I got closer and could see the abutment transition base, it was obvious that the first piece was in place. The engineer said that the next four pieces were on site. This bridge, while totally different than Maggie 1, is still a massive construction project and the arches are as massive as the arches on the Maggie 1. The excitement could be felt building the longer that I was on site because I have always enjoyed big construction projects like these from a very early age. There is just something about how things come together and in a prescribed amount of time, bingo! you have a finished project and move on to the next one.

There were several photographers at the site on and off, This bridge will get more attention more quickly because it was easier seen from present day I-30 whereas on Maggie 1, the extension of the Woodall Rodgers had to be built and tied into Singleton Blvd that wasn't near as built up as it is today. And, people have had time to learn about the projects and build their own kind of curiousness. The opening of the Trinity Skyline Trail and the Santa Fe Trestle Trail have added much awareness to the project.

Therefore, Maggie 2 is born and can only grow out of the Terra firma  taking its bends from the abutment transition base skyward as it eventually will draw to completion in another  landmark architecture in the form of another bridge. Dallas is a bridge building city without question. By TxDot counts there are some 5000 plus bridges in the Dallas area. It is no wonder that Dallas now will have two remarkable landmarks as bridges. From the early days of the first Dallas TV series when the aerial shot came over downtown and headed out over all the bridges going away from downtown into historic archives, It's going to be interesting to see where the Maggie 1 and the Maggie 2 turn up in future television episodes of any kind.

The birth of the bridge as the first arch piece rises from the abutment transition base.

This is the third abutment transition base, Number 2 is curing at present having been poured already.

Crossing the Trinity on the Skyline Trail

Every one that I have come across when discussing the new Trinity Skyline Trail noted as everyone  else did that there were trails on both sides of the Trinity but no one could state with any certainty where the bike trail would cross to the other side. Today, I found out.  The city parks and recreation guys are pretty knowledgeable about what's going on and with the aid of a supervisor from all-places, Burkburnett, Texas, could even provide more information since his company was the project contractor.  Burkburnett,Texas

The new ramp down to Trammel Crow Park off the new Sylvan  Avenue Bridge

is west of Wichita Falls just 2 miles off the I-44 bridge crossing into Oklahoma. That is right at 100 miles to go home or to come to work. Later, I was thinking that my uncle who was an electrician and driving that distance every day was just part of the job. He worked on Cobo Hall when it was being built with the Joe Arena. Now, the Joe is being torn down.Then, he worked for years upgrading Detroit Wayne County Airport. That's Metro. So distance like that isn't really a problem if  you want to work.

I had gone down to the Anatole to see if the Michigan Spartans were meeting the public but I had missed the events for the day. On the return, driving out Harry Hines to see if the new Parkland Hospital was clearing out the fences so a shot of the magnificent architecture could finally be taken. Usually, it takes five or six trips to check on the best times for sunlight--morning--afternoon--evening. During the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge build, it turned out that the best sun is afternoons between 3PM and 5PM in the winter months. This time of year when the angle of the sun is still low, even the morning shots can be more silhouette than morning sun normal. As I crossed the new Sylvan bridge, I saw a car at the new ramp that goes down to the boat docks and the parking lots of Trammel Crow Park. I turned around and came back and went down the new ramp. Later, the contractor super told me that he and the crew opened the ramp to traffic last night. Today, the crew was setting the post that blocks off all the areas of the new trail except the two parking lots and the boat ramp. He showed me where the crossing from the east bank over to the west bank would be made on the old Sylvan bridge which is at trail grade below the levees.

Now, it was clear where you could cross on the north end. For now, there must be a new crossing on the south end and I'm thinking that it will be the I-30 Maggie 2 bridge since it will have a pedestrian and bike way on the bridge. But, for now, if the weather ever comes back to normal for north Texas, I can park in the Continental Bridge parking lot or the lots at Trammel Crow and ride both sides of the river. It's marked as 6.2 miles from the old Sylvan bridge on the new trail.

There will be new wet lands north of Sylvan and the banks of the Trinity have really been cleaned up. The crews are still working and the estimated completion date is mid February, or about 6-weeks more work. The Trammel Crow lake is now drained but is being cleaned up and then will be re-flooded.