As Cables on Dallas' Margaret McDermott Bridge Fail, State and City Play Blame Game

Jim Schutze reports on bad news for the Margaret McDermott Bridge across the Trinity River near downtown Dallas:

In early 2016, barely half a year after elaborate ceremonies celebrating the lifting into place of the final arch, the bridge began to crack up under the stress of high winds. Since then, it has been the focus of a bitter dispute, never disclosed to the City Council, among designers, project engineers, the construction company and members of the city manager’s staff who oversaw the project.

Schutze documents the timing of the structural malfunctions, which center around the cables holding up the bridge's pedestrian deck. "Testing to see if the cable rods would be strong enough in high winds, a common occurrence in this locale, was never done before the cables were installed," according to Schutze, who also exonerates controversial architect Santiago Calatrava in the failure. "[T]he recently released documents show that Calatrava consistently urged the city to get the proper testing done and even offered to lend the city money to cover the cost of the tests if the city couldn't manage on its own."

Now the city and the Texas Department of Transportation are left pointing fingers at each other. A lot more detail on the whole mess is included in the source article.