Opinion ID: 457075
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Projects

Text: 2 A detailed presentation of the facts is essential to an understanding of the issues. Over a decade ago, a team of engineers, highway designers, and urban planners embarked upon the herculean task of relieving Fort Worth's exponentially growing traffic problems for the north-south and east-west traffic corridors. In 1976 and 1977, the appellees unveiled preliminary plans to expand from four to eight lanes an eight-mile section of Interstate 35W, a north-south highway, from Spur 280 on the north to an area just beyond Interstate 20 on the south. To relieve traffic congestion on the east-west corridor, the plan called for the expansion from four to eight lanes of Interstate 30 at an easternmost point beginning slightly east of I-35W and continuing approximately ten miles west, terminating just west of Interstate 820, a highway that encircles the city of Fort Worth. 1 3 The point at which I-30 and I-35W meet is known affectionately by local commuters as the Mixmaster, a complicated maze of highways, access roads, ramps, and merging lanes. It is located at or close to the southeastern corner of the central business district of the city. The area immediately west of the Mixmaster (and the north-south I-35W) on I-30 is a four-lane section of thirty foot high elevated east-west highway called the Overhead. The Overhead extends westward approximately one mile from the point at which the last lanes and ramps of the Mixmaster join I-30. The Overhead traverses the southern edge of the Fort Worth downtown area. 4 The existing Overhead overlooks a 4.3-acre public park known as the Water Garden, one of the most popular park facilities in Fort Worth, particularly for individuals working in or near the central business district. The Water Garden is comprised of terraced plantings and a series of waterfalls and pools surrounding a large stone plaza. It has received national acclaim for its unique design and the recreational opportunities it affords in an urban, downtown environment. The south end of the park, the part closest to the existing Overhead, consists of an amphitheater and a large grassy area. This section of the Water Garden is easily and quite regularly cordoned off and used for concerts, weddings, parties, and other private and community-sponsored events. This area also is the only place in the park where the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra may perform, the only area for visitors to picnic or recline, and the only site where there are no water fountains to counterbalance unwanted noise. 5 The park includes features designed to minimize, as far as possible, the impact of the existing four-lane overhead highway, which is about 45 feet away from the southern end of the park. For example, a number of oak trees and an eight-foot tall stone wall partially block the existing Overhead from view and reduce the noise from the highway. The Overhead, once expanded, would be nine, rather than forty-five feet from the southern end of the Water Garden, and the massive concrete columns erected to support the expanded Overhead would be located merely five feet from the park. The traffic capacity of the expanded Overhead roughly would be doubled. 6 The existing Overhead also overlooks several buildings that are either on or eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. The buildings, constructed in the 1930s, represent the craft and special design found in excellent architecture of that period and symbolize the early development of modern Fort Worth. These historic properties are: (1) The Fort Worth Main Post Office Building, an impressive 50-year old structure in the Renaissance Revival style, which spans an entire city block; (2) The Texas & Pacific Freight Terminal, a three-building complex, which displays the excellence of craftsmanship and design of the Art Deco movement of 1920-1940, and is still one of the most prominent features of the Fort Worth skyline; (3) The Texas & Pacific Passenger Terminal, which includes a 13-story office building and covers two city blocks, the Art Deco style of which makes it an example of the last era in modern building in which industrial crafts and individual workmanship played a predominant role; and (4) The Fort Worth Public Market Building, one of the few surviving examples of commercial Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in Fort Worth. The Texas & Pacific Passenger and Freight Terminals were added to the roll of the National Register of Historic Places in May 1978. The Public Market and Post Office buildings at present are not on the roll, but both have been determined to be eligible for inclusion on it. 7 The Post Office Building and the two Texas & Pacific complexes are clustered together and are parallel to the existing Overhead. The Public Market Building is located adjacent to I-30 near the westernmost end of the Overhead, approximately one-half mile from the three other buildings. The original plans for expanding the Overhead called for, in part, the complete demolition of the Public Market Building and the placement of massive concrete support columns on the sidewalk along the entire length of the front of the Post Office Building. 8 As to the buildings not to be demolished, the Post Office would be affected most dramatically by the proposed project. The facade of the front of the Post Office features sixteen impressive turned limestone columns that are topped with Corinthian-style capitals manifesting carved cattle heads. The entire building is veneered with cut limestone and is punctuated with numerous stone carvings and bronzed embossed medallions. The original project plans placed the expanded Overhead twenty feet from the front of the Post Office, rather than eighty feet as the existing Overhead is. Because the height of the expanded Overhead would be approximately that of the Post Office Building, the Overhead would create an awning-like effect on the front of the building, shading the building during parts of the day, obscuring practically any view of the sky, obstructing a view of the facade for all but close passers-by, and giving people standing on the steps of the Post Office a view of the numerous and rather unattractive Overhead support columns. 2 The effects on the Texas & Pacific buildings, while not as drastic in degree as those upon the Public Market Building or the Post Office, would be similar.