Our own Jim Schutze, when he was writing for the Dallas Observer, broke the story that the Margaret McDermott Bridge was made of an actual bridge on which cars could travel and a fake pedestrian bridge on which it is not safe for pedestrians to travel because those parts were basically glued onto the car bridge, and the city skipped the stress tests of the glue job so it had to close the pedestrian parts.
Well, a few recent posts on Twitter suggested that the pedestrian parts had been opened. There were pictures. Those tweets have been taken down, but before they were, I asked around: is the MMB open to pedestrians and cyclists? The answer: NO!
In response to questions from D Magazine, TxDOT and city of Dallas officials let Councilman Chad West know that they are on it. They acknowledge that people have been jumping over the shoulder of the highway and/or circumventing barriers. A TxDOT contractor is headed out to reinstall concrete barriers that were taken out at some point. There was also talk of getting law enforcement involved.
You’ve been warned.
