Had the weekend to catch up on some old news, and this issue of the Waller Creek Tunnel inlet being too tall smelled foolish from the first I heard about it.
Kudos to the Statesman’s Sarah Coppola for the revealing a potential $45mm fix to reduce the height of the Waller Creek Tunnel Inlet would be wasted money since the Texas State Library and Archives Commission is already blocking the view.
Say what?! That’s right. “Fixing” the inlet structure to be fully compliant with the CVC will not regain any view! An existing government building is blocking the view already.
The Waller Creek Tunnel Inlet is under construction in Waterloo Park. This is the business end of the tunnel construction which was on target for completion in mid-2015.
It was almost two years when the tunnel’s under ground dig was passing beneath the Sabine.
I remain optimistic that elected officials at the local and state level will apply reason, rather than force the taxpayers to pay to bring the inlet into CVC “compliance.”
I know this snacks of “letting them win,” but the inlet structure has a pedestrian platform on top, correct? Maybe the CVC could be re-defined to originate from there.
While it is true that the Archive Building does extend higher than the CVC allows it only blocks the lower portion of the Capitol dome. Since the intake structure is close to Red River it has the potential of blocking the entire Capitol dome. A detailed analysis needs to be conducted to determine how much it is blocked.