Writing in the Dallas Morning News, Scott Cantrell says the city should not move ahead with plans for a second Calatrava Bridge over the Trinity River. Cantrell says the I-30 design if “[f]ar from the Spanish architect’s best work, it’s unworthy as a tribute to Margaret McDermott, the great Dallas philanthropist it’s supposed to honor . . . As bridge architecture, though, it’s pure platitude, without an ounce of inspiration. Admittedly it’s really hard to make a 12-lane bridge — what’s proposed there — elegant.”
Cantrell’s solution? Go back to Calatrava and force him to design an I-30 bridge that falls into the Texas Department of Transportation’s current budget for the I-30 bridge replacement, or go to TxDOT and force them to design something more visually appealing than the usual High Five concrete flyovers.
Sounds very sensible to me.