Trinity River Vision Authority-July 29

We went up the street for class this evening to meet with the Trinity River Vision Authority to talk to them about the way they are going to develop around the Trinity River. It was very nice to meet with them and it was a great presentation. Shanna Cate gave the presentation. To make this project possible there were many different partners tied into the project. There are two major parts to the project. The Trinity Uptown project and also the Central City project. The Trinity Uptown project will be a private component of the project that will consist of 800 to 1000 acres that will be classified as mix use land. 2/3 of the land will be required to be residential so it won't take away from down town business The city gave a survey to many residents and it asked what they wanted from the Trinity River. The results came in a the majority wanted a water front they could go to. At the present citizens don't have this because of the flood that came through during 1949. After that disaster a levee system was put into place and since then Fort Worth has been disconnected to the river that runs right through the city. The levee system was designed for the 1960 population and because of all the growth around the city in recent years the runoff has become greater. This has caused many drainage problems. All together there are 5 different river vision projects. The other major project Central City is a public infrastructure project for flood protection. It will have 12 miles of water improvements and all the projects will add 16000 jobs.
To get this great idea Fort Worth went around looking for the best model and they found it in Grandville Island, Canada. To look at how the currents run down the river and how to position new developments. The city constructed a trinity river model the size of a football field. It also helps them do flood studies. They have figured out the best thing to do is to have the east side be a bypass channel and have new development and the west side be for recreation.
This project is huge it will cost around 1 billion dollars and have a 12 yera construction time frame. It will have 3 bridges, a bypass channel, Isolation gates, dam, and channel lock. The first bridge will start construction next year. With this Trinity River Vision it brings 2400 acres out of the flood zone. To make the the project look even better 80000 trees will be planted and a 6500 person amphitheater will be built. Also mountain bike trails will be made and a ferry taxi will be on the river to get you from the stockyards all the way down to down town. What is really different about this project form the Dallas one is that the Fort Worth project has all of its financing in place. 60% of the project is federal and the rest comes from the water district and the city. The project is on schedule and I can't wait to see it completed. It looks like a great place for tourism and also a great place for residents to go wind down and have some fun. All together it was a great presentation.