Archive for the ‘corpsofengineers’ Category

​I have been dealing with both the city and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in recent weeks seeking answers to questions about the "Dallas Wave" or "Standing Wave" man-made rapids that the city has installed in the Trinity River just downriver from downtown. It was intended to be a recreational attraction for a certain type of very specialized kayaking. Last May, at just about the time the city had planned to open the Dallas Wave to the public, the city instead barred the public from using it because of some serious flaws that made it too dangerous. A side channel, intended to function as a safe passage for canoeists and other boaters, turned out to be too turbulent. The thing also has soared in cost, from an original price of $1.5 million quoted to the city council by city staff at the outset several years ago to an amount of almost $4.3 million now, and that is before the cost of fixing the thing so it won't kill canoeists. Some Friends of Unfair Park have been wondering why the city has to pay these additional costs if the original design was bad. Why isn't the designer responsible? City council member Angela Hunt has raised the same question with City Manager Mary Suhm. See her memo below. The design thing turns out to be a more complicated issue than you might think. I'm going to talk about it in my column in next week's paper. I'm not even sure the thing was built according to a design.