One of the many Texas Engineering Landmarks in celebration of Texas ASCE’s Centennial: 1913-2013 “Engineering a Better Texas.” Visit them all!
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Houston Street Viaduct
Also called “Dallas-Oak Cliff Viaduct at Houston Street “
ASCE Texas Historic Civil Engineering Landmark (HCEL) Award 1989
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The first of five concrete and steel viaducts connecting the north and south sections of Dallas across the flood prone Trinity River, the Houston Street Viaduct was entirely funded by Dallas County, and is one of the longest (6,562 feet, 56 feet wide) bridges ever built utilizing reinforced-concrete arches.
This crossing, from the Dallas Central Business District, was the first reliable transportation to the then City of Oak Cliff, providing a future rail link as well as clearances which would allow ocean-going vehicles to pass on a proposed Trinity River Canal. [The Trinity River Canal would connect Dallas to the Gulf of Mexico and demanded a 90-foot clearance; this project is still under consideration today.]
According to the Historic American Engineering Record, ''At the time of its construction, the Dallas-Oak Cliff Viaduct at Houston Street was the longest reinforced concrete highway viaduct in the world, and it was the first high-level, all-weather crossing of the Trinity River at Dallas.
The Houston Street Viaduct displays a remarkable insight into future infrastructure needs and development. In addition to accommodation for possible future oceangoing vehicles, the viaduct features a roadway for vehicles, sidewalks for pedestrians, provisions for a double-track electric railway, pile footings, and discontinuous rocker bearing girders designed as simple beams.
Work began in 1910 and was completed a year later. Remarkably, the overall structure remains intact with no visible modification and continues to support a major traffic artery. This link to the past continues to serve the public and to further the legacy of the skilled, forward-thinking engineers of the early 1900s.
In 2013, the one-way, southbound Houston Street Viaduct closed to vehicle traffic to “meet its long-planned destiny.” Bob Stimson, who heads the Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce, described the evolution: "They're going to build that streetcar that's going to go directly from the Convention Center right over to Bishop Arts, and so this project overall is a great thing for Oak Cliff.” The City, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, and the North Central Texas Council of Governments are building a single streetcar track with $42 million in federal grants.
Refitting is expected to take through fall of 2014, when the bridge — and the new streetcar line — will open.
The Houston Street Viaduct was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Key Facts:
NBI Structure Number: 180570000911079
Feature Carried: Houston Street
Feature Crossed: Trinity River
Year Built: 1911
Status: In use
Type: Arch
Subtype: Open Spandrel Concrete Barrel Arch
Length of Main Span / Total (ft): 103 / 4785
Sufficiency: 50.2%
Average Daily Traffic (ADT): 3050
Records:
Owner: City of Dallas
Architect- Ira G. Hedrick, C.E., of Kansas City, Missouri
Engineers- M.R. Ash, Associate Engineer (design)
Hedrick and Cochrane, Consulting Engineers of Kansas City (field work supervision)
J.F. Witt, Dallas County Engineer
Contractor- Corrigan, Lee, and Halpin, of Kansas City, Missouri
FURTHER READING:
Dallas News “A historical look at Dallas' Houston Street Viaduct” (
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Bridge Hunter Houston Street Viaduct (
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“A century later, Dallas bridge makes way for streetcars” February 18, 2013 (
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“For a century, Houston Street Viaduct has been a vital link for Dallas” 25 October 2010 (
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Dallas Trinity Rails “Houston Street Viaduct Turns 100” (
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Bridge Mapper Dallas-Oak Cliff Viaduct (
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Engineering-contracting, Volume 35 Apr 5, 1911 p383 (
visit link)