For over a century, the often-charming concrete-and-steel bridges which replaced the wood-and-iron spans across Turtle Creek between Maple Avenue and Avondale Avenue have connected the bustling Oak Lawn area to central and downtown Dallas.
Plans are underway to renovate these vital structures of the Turtle Creek neighborhood, some of which have poetically long-punctuated the local landscape.
“We have these beautiful, hundred-year-old bridges, and they’re showing wear and tear,” said J.D. Trueblood, president/CEO of the Turtle Creek Association (TCA). “The time is right. I knew I couldn’t do it on my own, so I approached the Turtle Creek Conservancy (TCC) and asked them if they would partner. I was really pleased that the two could come together, because both organizations are extremely important to the neighborhood.”
There are eight bridges included in the Bridges of Turtle Creek Initiative, including the two at Lemmon Avenue. The TCC is going to take care of the Hall and Bowen bridges, and the TCA is going to take care of funding the remaining six.
“They’ve got Arlington Hall and Turtle Creek Park, right in the middle of the corridor, and we take care of everything else,” Trueblood said. “There’s a lot of overlap. We clean the creek from Avondale to Reverchon, and we do the medians, but we’re trying to do a lot more.
“We are scheduled to start our first bridge third quarter, we are funded, and we are ready to go,” he said. “The whole concept is we want you to know you’re in the Turtle Creek corridor area. So, we want the bridges to match as much as possible — same colors, same lanterns. It was fun to go downtown, to do the research, and to learn more about Dallas history and the importance of these bridges.”
The mural by artist Lauren Lewchuk at the Lemmon Avenue bridges, which was tagged with graffiti and damaged by the runoff from an added concrete railing, will be painted over.
“This was a huge deal for me so early in my career,” Lewchuk said of the spring 2022 mural. “It’s disappointing but not totally surprising. I’m still really proud of it”
Stones placed under bridges, metal barricades, and new lighting will act as a deterrent for homeless encampments. Phase One includes the Lemmon Avenue and Hall Street bridges, the two most visible that bookend Turtle Creek Park.
“You can come off the Katy trail at Reverchon, connect easily with the Turtle Creek leisure trail, and walk all the way to Avondale,” Trueblood said. “It’s almost a 2-mile stretch.
“Our agreement with the city is to maintain these bridges for 10 years,” he said. “If they get tagged again or a tree limb falls on a lantern, we are the ones who would immediately go in and get it repaired. I think there’s a lot of opportunity if we get an endowment set up.”
“We estimate we’ve pulled 10 tons of trash out of the creek,” he smiles. “After the last few years of intensive cleaning, blue herons, kingfishers, and egrets are back. Wildlife is returning, and that’s pretty awesome.”