TxDOT Fires Back, Blames Margaret McDermott Bridge Mess on Dallas and Calatrava

Someone decided to use thinner, cheaper materials to attach the cables to the bridge deck. Everybody involved says it was somebody else.
Photo: Jim Schutze


Within hours of publication by the Dallas Observer on Tuesday of a story detailing flaws in the unopened Margaret McDermott Bridge over the Trinity River, the Texas Department of Transportation fired off a heated response — but not to the Observer.

The three-page TxDOT letter sent yesterday, which alleged “inaccurate and incomplete statements,” was addressed to and aimed at Sarah Standifer, the Dallas official overseeing the bridge project. The letter pointedly rejects attempts by Standifer and architect Santiago Calatrava to blame the bridge failures on TxDOT’s construction contractor, and it makes it plain that TxDOT doesn’t intend to assume the cost of putting things right:

“The city of Dallas is responsible for any cost overruns associated with the Margaret McDermott Bridge,” states Ceason Clements, TxDOT project manager for an array of downtown Dallas expressway reconstruction projects.

An Observer story reported yesterday that the pedestrian and bicycle bridge designed by Calatrava, slated to open last summer, still has not been cleared for opening by the supervising engineer because of flaws that include repeated cracking of rods that are part of the cables that hold up the bridge. A trove of documents uncovered by City Council member Scott Griggs, never previously revealed to the full council, shows that Calatrava, Standifer and TxDot have been arguing for two years, sometimes heatedly, regarding blame for the cracked cable parts.

Read more: http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/txdot-officials-blame-dallas-and-calatrava-for-trinity-river-bridge-problems-10315262