Artist rendering of the Mockingbird Bridge that will connect the Katy Trail with Mockingbird Station. (City of Dallas & Google Maps)
Editor’s Note: This article originally included a photo of the intersection and a business development located adjacent to the northwestern portion of Mockingbird Bridge, but the asset manager for that development demanded that we remove the photo because she said including a picture of the development and its logo with this story was damaging the development’s business. We substituted a City of Dallas rendering of the Mockingbird Bridge and adjacent development, but that rendering also caused the asset manager to demand that the building be removed from the rendering because the building’s inclusion “slandered” the development. As a result, we removed the portion of the rendering that pictured the development in question and substituted a Google map rendering of the area.
The Mockingbird Bridge was slated for completion in 2011, giving pedestrians and cyclist safe passage over the car-crowded area by linking the Katy Trail with DART’s Mockingbird Station, which links into the Ridgewood Trail. But today it remains unfinished, nearly ready to open this summer. Since the expected opening date, 15 people have been hit by cars, including two fatalities, within the busy Mockingbird area just east of I-75, CBS DFW reported in an investigative piece.
The fatalities include popular film critic Gary Murray, who was leaving an event at the Angelika Theatre last April when a driver hit him before fleeing the scene.
The bridge project was spearheaded by former District 14 Councilwoman Angela Hunt and has been championed by her successor Councilman Philip Kingston, who told CBS the delay was politically motivated. The city denied that, saying it was due to typical construction hold-ups.
Kingston took to social media to express himself:
https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FPhilipTKingston%2Fposts%2F1100093353451064&width=500
