The Margaret McDermott Bridge as seen from the Design District. (David Taffet/Dallas Voice)

A report released to the Dallas City Council indicates that repairing the Margaret McDermott Bridge so that it is safe for pedestrians and bicyclists will take almost three years once the $7.1 million upgrade is approved.

Two options were proposed to retrofit and restring cables (click here if you want the gory details).

The roadways under the arches are actually two separate-but-attached bridges to the main I-30 highway that runs between them. The car lanes are built on a simple overpass that crosses the Mighty Trin the way any overpass would cross a creek. Those lanes are just fine. It’s those complicated, cable-stayed, Santiago Calatrava-designed arches where the stress of holding up barely one lane that would be used for pedestrians and bikes is the problem. The cables keep snapping. The roadway keeps crackling, and engineers are afraid that without a fix the bridge will go pop.

The council will consider the expenditure and fix on April 10. Work could begin in May. And then, just a thee years later, the bridge may open.

Another fix would be to tear down the arches, ship them to bridge architect Calatrava and get a refund for the faulty design and millions of dollars in construction costs we’ve already wasted. And if we still want a hike-and-bike trail over the raging waters that swell to tens of feet deep, build an overpass.

— David Taffet