Yesterday, the Downtown Neighborhood Alliance had a get-together at the luxurious Villa de Leon condo building over in Uptown’s Trinity Bluff neighborhood, and JD Granger from the Trinity River Vision was on hand to give a presentation on the latest TRV news & info. Here are a couple of photos from the presentation – JD talked about the progress on the bypass channel, the new bridge designs, Trinity Trail improvement projects around University/Rogers and the Naval Air Station, and many other aspects of the project. More updates on TRV projects are coming soon.
Landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, one of the most creative voices in designing urban public space, passed away on Sunday at his home in California at the age of 93 from complications from a fall.
Halprin was a prolific designer, and created some of the most unique modernist public spaces in the United States. He studied how the human body moves and behaves in spatial settings, especially using dancers and choreography thanks to his wife and longtime collaborator Anna, who was a dancer. This sense of poetic movement found its way into his work, which exhibits strong relationships to human scale. Halprin devised his own landscape drawing system, which he called “motation” (motion and notation).
Several of Halprin’s projects have been demolished over time, and several more are in states of disrepair.
We have personally experienced two of Halprin’s designs, one of which is in dire condition and the other is gloriously restored and beloved. Of course, the one in disrepair is also the one Halprin did here in Fort Worth: Heritage Park, on the Trinity River bluff in Downtown.
All of Halprin’s designs reflect this passion to give people as many options as possible to go this way or that, to reverse directions, to pause, to start over, to be alone, to meet others, and to experience as many different sights, smells and sounds as the site permits.”
–Benjamin Forgey, The Smithsonian, 1988
Heritage Park’s quiet, meditative spaces and interplay of paths and “rooms” are classic Halprin. It’s not too difficult to imagine, as you walk through the park, how engaging it all would be if it were fully restored and taken care of by the city, rather than closed, dried-up, and left to decay and be overtaken by out-of-control landscaping. We were fortunate enough to make our first visits to Heritage Park before it was closed, and even in its run-down condition it felt very special. At one point, the city hired Carter + Burgess to come up with a plan to restore the park, and their response was to destroy the park’s character and integrity by slathering it with railings and other incompatible design features that were in complete opposition to Halprin’s lifelong intent of direct engagement between visitors and his works. Fortunately, Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. and other interested parties are now leading the way with a fundraising effort to carry out a restoration of Heritage Park that is sensitive to Halprin’s design, thanks to a collaboration with Laurie Olin, fellow landscape architect and friend of Halprin’s.
We’ve written a lot about Heritage Park in the past, and here are a few selections, including our three-park exclusive look at Halprin’s original design sketches of Heritage Park and the Trinity waterfront:
As you advance towards the water in the collecting pools, you might wonder if you can trust you own sense of privilege, if you’re really allowed to do this. Trail your fingers in the fast flow up top, perch wet or dry atop the falls, wade barefoot into the bottom, or climb. You’re operating in that wonderful audio cocoon-bubble of privacy created by the loud rushing water, behind or maybe inside that wall of sound, so you feel alone and brave. Eventually you give yourself permission. Or you don’t. You decide how brave you want to get, or not. It’s a detail, but many have commented on that moment.
–Walt Lockley
The other Halprin design we have personal experience with is one that’s been well-loved: the Ira Keller Fountain in downtown Portland, Oregon. The Ira Keller Fountain creates an inviting space in the heart of the city that’s both playful and peaceful, depending on your mood. It’s a remarkable space in that there are no safety railings or nanny-safety-devices to prevent you from exploring the space. As we wrote about the fountain in our post about visiting it:
That’s it. There’s nothing stopping you from dipping a toe in, running your hands along the falls, wading around the pads. It is the kind of public space we simply don’t do anymore. The restoration and ongoing use of Ira Keller Fountain is in direct opposition to the blandified, watered-down world of railings that Carter + Burgess recommended for Heritage Park, which is even less arguably dangerous than the Keller Fountain. Keller has kept its interactivity and its soul, and that little bit of mostly-imagined danger that, as Lockley says, lets you “decide how brave you want to get, or not.”
The Ira Keller Fountain is an outstanding example of Halprin’s brilliance, and because it’s been respectfully cared for it’s a real direct, undiluted experience. Because the city hasn’t cordoned off the fountain and interfered with Halprin’s intent, the simple act of visiting it is also an act of engaging in a conversation with Halprin, as your body and mind respond to the subtle cues and design touches that he used to guide your procession through the space.
It’s that the verbal message of those signs is so effectively contradicted and drowned out by the bravery, openness, good sense and loud sexiness of the water, that’s the best part. There are no railings or fences. The place is untamed and attractively dangerous, like the natural world.
–Walt Lockley
Coming from another urban area (Oakland-Berkeley) a number of years ago my first reaction to Ira’s Fountain was slack-jawed disbelief. The thing most striking to me was its absence. Where were the signs saying ‘keep out,’ ‘danger’, ‘caution’, ‘no swimming’? There were no warnings or precautions visible. Did the lawyers know about this? How do they pay the liability? I was charmed, impressed and fell totally in love with the city of Portland at that point. Charmed that they cared enough to give over this energy and space to a non-revenue generator… To this day, many years since, I would name either the Salmon Street Springs or Ira’s Fountain as my favorite spots in the entire city. It is the joy factor of watching people interacting with the water. The kids especially are surprised that it is O.K. to go in. They look around as they approach the fountain, half-expecting someone to yell, ‘Stop, don’t touch that!’
–Barbara Duncan
So today, we celebrate the work and talent of Lawrence Halprin, master of designing spaces for human-scaled interaction. We are fortunate in Fort Worth to have an example of his work in our city, and hopefully soon we will all be able to enjoy it again, the way he intended us to.
Recently, we noted the city’s planned public meetings on the restoration of Heritage Park. The city is working with Laurie Olin, noted landscape architect who worked with Heritage Park’s original designer, Lawrence Halprin, to come up with an effective and respectful restoration plan for the long-neglected and intimate park on the Trinity Bluff just west of the courthouse and Paddock Viaduct.
Now, in celebration of the newfound interest in the park, we’ve got something special to share. Fort Worthology is very proud to present a series of posts showing ultra-rare original design and concept sketches by Lawrence Halprin during the design of Heritage Park. These images are from the Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania, and aren’t available online anywhere else. Thanks to District 9 City Council representative Joel Burns, we can share these treasures of the city’s architectural legacy with our readers.
We’ll be presenting the Halprin sketches in a series, starting today and continuing next week. Today, let’s take a look at some conceptual sketches that show that Heritage Park wasn’t always intended for the west side of the Paddock Viaduct – and that the desires behind the Trinity River Vision were around in the ’70s as well.
Heritage Park sits atop the Trinity Bluff just west of the Paddock Viaduct and north of Bluff Street, near the Tarrant County Courthouse. A small, intimate space of concrete paths, outdoor rooms, water features, and an overlook extending from the bluff face, Heritage Park was the design of famed landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, who designed quite a few urban spaces like Heritage Park. One of the most notable is Ira Keller Fountain in Portland, Oregon. Halprin designed Heritage Park to be a reflective, meditative space. In the years that followed, the park fell into disrepair and became overgrown with plants, and the city finally closed the park not long ago. Recently, the city embarked on a plan to restore and re-open the park.
Heritage Park’s location wasn’t always just west of the Paddock Viaduct, though. Early design sketches reveal that the park was at one point intended to go to the east of the bridge, roughly in the location of the current Tarrant County College campus project.
In this Halprin sketch, the area of the bluffs east of the bridge is examined, and various issues surrounding its then-current design are explored. Numerous notations point to the potential of the bluffs as a recreational area hampered by a lack of access – a problem to this day. Further notes read “water oriented activities?” It’s easy to read this as one of the seeds of today’s Trinity River Vision and Trinity Uptown project. The little-utilized land past the bluffs on what will be the TRV islands is noted, and the area from the flat land to the water’s edge occupied by the levee system is marked with the note “high potential use – how to develop?” This was 1977 – it would only be today that we launched a project (the TRV) to enable the development of this waterfront land. Perhaps even more interesting from a hindsight perspective is the caption over the Samuels Avenue neighborhood – “What is the future of this residential area to be?” In the last few years, that area has become the hot Trinity Bluff development:
The sketch is remarkably prescient in its details relating to the TRV and Trinity Bluff.
With the site initially having been east of the bridge, some early design concepts were put together showing a very different Heritage Park than what was actually built.
One of these initial sketches reveals a more sprawling and open design that terraces down the bluff and does not have an “overlook” setup like the finished park. This design features a pedestrian overpass crossing Bluff Street from the courthouse area. This is roughly in the area of the present Tarrant County College project:
At some point thereafter, Halprin created this sketch with another radically different design:
In this design, the park becomes a large hexagonal pod jutting out from the bluff face. A smaller hexagonal pod extends above it to the east. A larger pedestrian overpass crosses Bluff Street from the courthouse. What might be windows indicate an interior to the structure of some sort – perhaps a restaurant or visitor’s center?
As indicated by these sketches, Heritage Park could have turned out very different indeed. The location east of the bridge, in retrospect, may have given the park a more prominent location than it has now, where it wound up tucked into the shadow of a huge county parking garage. Plans for TCC’s campus would have been quite different with an eastern Heritage Park as well. In the end, though, Heritage Park’s western site may give it a more noteworthy view as it looks out over what will be the downtown lake in the completed TRV.
In our next installment, we’ll take a look at more sketches, including a rendering of some sort of riverfront train station & recreation development, and a sketch showing an overview of Downtown with a TRV-esque downtown lake, a freeway ringing the bluff area, and North Main closed to car traffic. Afterwards we’ll get into sketches showing the design of the final park coming together.
A big thanks once again to District 9 City Council representative Joel Burns for providing these sketches.
Last night at the Central Library in Downtown Fort Worth, the city showcased a draft of a radically altered and improved bicycle transportation plan called “Bike Fort Worth.” Aiming to replace the rather lacking 1999 bike route plan with a more robust and elaborate system, the city has been working for a year and a half on “Bike Fort Worth,” and the results look impressive.
With “Bike Fort Worth,” the city has laid out ambitious goals: to triple the level of bicycle transportation in the city, to reduce the number of bicycle-related accidents by 1/4, and to attain official designation as a “Bicycle Friendly Community” from the League of American Bicyclists – all by 2015.
With “Bike Fort Worth,” it is clear that the city is making a huge new commitment to the “Complete Streets” movement and that the attitude of planning and transportation at City Hall has truly radically shifted. Now, let’s dive into some of the details of “Bike Fort Worth.”
(Apologies for the weird photos – seating was limited and we were at an angle.)
Some of the challenges identified in “Bike Fort Worth” are our high-speed arterials with no bike provisions, unsafe behavior by both motorists and bicyclists, street design features that are unfriendly to bicycles, missing connections between bike facilities and neighborhoods, and a lack of convenient and safe bike parking & storage at destinations. “Bike Fort Worth” aims to address all of these issues – and let’s start by taking a look at the subject most near and dear to our hearts here at Fort Worthology: bike lanes, routes, and trails.
In the 2007 bicycle survey, the message from respondents was strong: when asked what would encourage residents to bicycle more often, 86% said “bike lanes,” 84% said “new trails,” and 68% said “signed bike routes.” “Bike Fort Worth” addresses all three forms of infrastructure.
The new bicycle transportation system aims to provide links to existing and planned bike facilities in neighboring cities, provide safe bicycle routes along major corridors, identify alternative parallel routes to major arterials too large for safe bicycle accommodation (think six-lane plus designs), fill gaps in bicycle routing and linkages, overcome barriers to bike travel between neighborhoods and destinations, and provide connections to major destinations. Links to transit centers, existing and planned rail stations, the Urban Villages, Downtown Fort Worth, schools, colleges, universities, major employers, the Trinity Trails, and parks and recreation areas are all part of “Bike Fort Worth.”
“Bike Fort Worth” identifies three categories of bike infrastructure and uses them all: on-street striped bicycle-only lanes, on-street bike routes marked with “sharrows,” and off-street trails. Related are several other pieces of bike-friendly infrastructure, including intersections with sensors properly tuned to detect bicycles, bicycle-only traffic signals where trails and on-street facilities cross, and new crossings of barriers such as the Trinity River.
“Bike Fort Worth” proposes a huge increase in the scope and quality of bike infrastructure in the city of Fort Worth. At present, there are approximately 39.6 miles of “sharrow” bike routes, 8.5 miles of striped bicycle-only lanes (including the new Magnolia Avenue “road diet”), 58.4 miles of off-street trails, and 3.9 miles of “sidepaths” (wider sidewalks in situations where bikes-on-sidewalk is appropriate). In all, there are 109.4 miles of bike infrastructure in Fort Worth.
Under “Bike Fort Worth,” our bike infrastructure would be radically increased:
Sharrow routes would jump from 39.6 miles to 224.1 miles.
Bus-only lanes in Downtown would change to bus & bike-only, for a total of 1.75 miles.
Striped bicycle-only lanes would massively increase from 8.5 miles to a truly impressive 475.9 miles.
Off-street bike trails would increase from 58.4 miles to 153.3 miles.
Sidepaths would increase from 3.9 miles to 43.1 miles.
Total on-street bicycle infrastructure would jump to 704.75 miles, and total off-street would go to 196.4 miles. Truly, this is a paradigm shift in bicycle transportation in the city of Fort Worth.
Highlights of new off-street trails include:
New Trinity Trails extensions, connections, and crossings.
A new connection between the Trinity and Sycamore trails.
Trail Drivers Park to Trinity.
New trails along the Trinity Uptown waterfront.
Above is a view showing primarily Downtown, the Cultural District, and the Near Southside. Among the highlights:
New dedicated lanes in the Near Southside – at a minimum, the plan wants all of Magnolia from 8th to South Main, all of Rosedale from 8th to South Main, all of Pennsylvania from 12th to South Main, all of Vickery from Adams into the east side of the city, Jennings from Magnolia into Downtown where it joins up with Throckmorton, South Main from Lancaster all the way south to Morningside, Summit from Rosedale to 5th Street in Downtown, 12th Avenue from Pennsylvania to Rosedale, Cooper from 12th Avenue to Summit, and College from Pennsylvania to Rosedale. These dedicated lanes would be supplemented by existing and new “sharrow” routes. We say “at a minimum” because it was made clear that this is the “Bike Fort Worth” minimum and the even greater number of striped lanes in the Near Southside design standards are still available through the Near Southside TIF and other mechanisms.
A large network of sharrow routes in Downtown, in a reversal from the previous plan’s position that Downtown was already bike friendly enough.
Re-marking the Throckmorton and Houston bus-only lanes in Downtown into bus & bike-only lanes.
Dedicated bike lanes on 3rd Street from the east side of Downtown all the way out to East 1st, continuing on to the east from there.
Dedicated bike lanes on Sylvania running long-distance from north to south.
Dedicated bike lanes on East Lancaster from Downtown to Tennessee.
A new sharrow route on Henderson from 5th to Belknap that turns into a dedicated lane from Belknap to White Settlement.
Dedicated bike infrastructure on all the new Trinity River Vision bridges at White Settlement, Henderson, and North Main.
Dedicated bike lanes on White Settlement from North Main west past Rockwood/Westview.
Dedicated bike lanes on Bailey from White Settlement to the big University/7th/Camp Bowie/Bailey intersection.
Dedicated bike lanes on Carroll from West 7th to Whitmore, joining a sharrow route from Whitmore to White Settlement by way of Foch.
Dedicated bike lanes on Foch from West 7th to Crestline.
A close-up view of Downtown. One of the biggest changes and improvements in “Bike Fort Worth” is the creation of real bike connections between districts in the central city – dedicated bike lanes will carry riders between the Near Southside and Downtown on South Main, Jennings, and Summit. Dedicated bike lanes will also connect to the Cultural District – which we’ll get to in a moment.
Looking further south:
A number of new sharrow routes increase connections between existing routes and new bike lanes. A new route more directly connects to Forest Park, for example – a sharrow route will run down Park Place to the trails.
New dedicated bike lanes on Forest Park and McCart from Huntington to West Devitt.
New sharrow route down Rogers, between Cantey and new dedicated bike lanes on Lovell and West Vickery.
New dedicated bike lanes on University, from Cantey heading south past Berry (not shown here but presumably to Bluebonnet Circle at least).
New sharrow route on Hartwood, Mockingbird, and Colonial.
New dedicated bike lanes on Stadium from Cantey to Berry, then dedicated lanes heading out West on Berry and Bellaire.
New dedicated bike lanes on East Allen and East Maddox from I-35 to Comer.
New dedicated bike lanes on Nashville.
Also seen here is the long-distance route of the new dedicated bike lanes on Sylvania/Riverside.
In the Cultural District, we see:
The previously mentioned dedicated bike lanes on White Settlement, Bailey, Carroll, and Foch.
New dedicated bike lanes on Lancaster from Currie to Montgomery right past the museums.
A sharrow connection on Lancaster between Currie and Foch.
Dedicated bike lanes on Montgomery from West 7th south.
New sharrow routes on Crestline, Trinity Park, Cedar Elm, West 7th west of University, Dorothy, Bailey north of White Settlement, Hillcrest, Ashland, El Campo, Byers, Owasso, and Harley west of Montgomery.
New dedicated bike lanes on Harley between Montgomery and University through the Will Rogers Memorial Center, joining the sharrow route on a brief stretch of University to Crestline.
New dedicated bike lanes on West 7th between the big University/7th/Camp Bowie/Bailey intersection and Lamar in Downtown.
The dedicated bike lanes on West 7th are an especially big addition, especially with all the development activity along the street.
In addition, the plan adds extensive new signage for bike lanes, bike routes, trails, and wayfinding to destinations using the system.
“Bike Fort Worth” also looks at bicycle parking and storage. The plan calls for the adoption of mandatory bicycle parking requirements in zoning and development plans for new commercial, office, industrial, and multi-family residential development. In addition, the city will implement a “significant” bike rack installation program to radically increase the amount of public bike parking in the city. The plan calls for the placement of bike parking in convenient and logical locations by the main entrances of businesses – not stuck in the back or in the middle of nowhere. “Bike Fort Worth” will also implement preferred bike rack designs, favoring designs like the “inverted U” and “lollipop” racks and discouraging designs like the “wave” and “wheel-bender.” The plan also calls for new parking garages to provide bicycle parking space.
The plan even has strategies for replacing some on-street car parking with on-street bicycle parking, which allows the parking of a great number of bicycles in the space previously reserved for just one or two cars. A good example is shown in this Streetfilms video about bicycle parking in Portland, Oregon:
In addition, the plan calls for the construction of a Downtown Bicycle Commuter Station. An example of bicycle commuter parking can be seen in this Streetfilms video about Alewife Station in Cambridge, Massachusetts:
“Bike Fort Worth” also features extensive education, enforcement, and outreach programs:
The plan ties into the national “Safe Routes to School” initiative, encouraging more kids to walk and bike to school.
The city plans a “Share the Road” educational campaign to educate Fort Worth drivers and riders on safe, correct motorist/bicyclist interaction.
A new, better bike map will be published.
The city will participate in National Bike to Work Day and reinstitute the Clean Air Bike Rally.
The plan calls for Fort Worth to hold Sunday Parkways – weekend days when sections of road are closed to car traffic and turned over exclusively to bicycle and pedestrian usage.
The plan for Sunday Parkways is inspired by other such events in more bike-friendly cities, such as Portland, Oregon. This Streetfilms video shows some scenes from Portland’s own Sunday Parkways:
In addition, the plan calls for changes to street design standards, subdivision standards, and the development review process to ensure bicycle support is “built-in.” The city intends to fully embrace the “Complete Streets” movement and it will be policy that street planning, design, and construction will accommodate bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit users from the very beginning.
The plan also calls for the city to launch an accurate bicycling count program, and a bicycle-related crash data & reporting program.
“Bike Fort Worth” is in draft stage and the city is currently accepting public input on the plan. The last of the three public meetings will be tomorrow night at 6:30 PM at LMRA River Pavillion, 3400 Bryant Irvin Road. After the plan is refined based on public input, it’s off to implementation. As said before, the plan’s goal is to triple bicycle travel, reduce bicycle accidents by 1/4, and attain a “Bicycle Friendly Community” rating from the League of American Bicyclists by 2015.
It’s a radical plan for a city that’s been more slow and measured in the past, but it shows the fundamental shifts in thinking and planning that are occurring at City Hall. Fort Worth is a city that is changing its thinking, and “Bike Fort Worth” is a great example of progress towards creating a more livable, sustainable Fort Worth. We came away from the presentation very impressed indeed – a big thanks to Don Koski, the Senior Planner in Fort Worth’s Transportation and Public Works Department, for putting on the presentation last night.
The Trinity River Vision Authority has posted this video, about nine and a half minutes in length, taking a look at the scale bypass channel model and the engineering and philosophy behind the project.
I’ve noticed that recently, a few more buildings have been demolished to make way for the TRV bypass channel, including the old Whataburger and chocolate factory buildings on White Settlement. There is starting to be a pretty noticeable swath of demolition along what will be the bypass channel route.
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