So, Wait -- Project Pegasus is Dead?

By Robert Wilonsky Thu., Mar. 3 2011 at 8:20 AM

Categories: Transportation

Pin It

From time to time, Friends of Unfair Park ask about the status of Project Pegasus, which is -- or was -- "intended to transform the two major Interstate Highways directly serving Downtown Dallas, by totally redesigning IH 30 from Sylvan Avenue to IH 45, and IH 35E from Eighth Street to Empire Central Drive," per the website's to-the-point project overview. Last I recall us writing about it was April 2010, when Schutze beat The News about the head and shoulders for insisting during the 2007 Trinity River toll road referendum that the toll road and Pegasus were inextricably linked -- which the paper kinda, sorta admitted was a bald-faced lie three years later.

The Project Pegasus website hasn't been updated since forever -- 2005 looks to be the most recent heads-up, back when the Mixmaster-Canyon-Lower Stemmons redo was in the "planning, design and environmental" stage, the third of seven intended to culminate with the grand opening sometime in ... well, no one ever really said. The most the agencies involved -- among them, TxDOT, the city, DART, the NTTA, NCTCOG, etc. -- would commit to was that construction would begin "sometime before 2010." And that tick has tocked.

But then, last night, in the middle of a piece about how Dallas (and the entire state) needs more highways and byways to make room for more cars, Shelly Slater casually dropped this bomb: "News 8 has learned that Project Pegasus, the Dallas mixmaster improvement project, is coming to a screeching halt after decades of planning." She said TxDOT and the city had no answer to the big ol' "why," but the answer's clear: There's just no money.

I've got calls out to Bill Hale, TxDOT's Dallas district engineer, and spokesperson Cynthia Northrop White and city council member Linda Koop, chair of the Transportation Committee. I'll update when they do. Till then, let's go to the Project Pegasus FAQ to answer the question "How will the funding be obtained for constructing Project Pegasus?"

State and Federal funding sources will primarily be used to fund the project. Construction funding has not been allocated at this time. Local cost sharing will also be required to pay any added cost of aesthetic urban design elements included in the planned transportation facility improvements.

The WFAA piece is on the other side.

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter: Our weekly feature stories, movie reviews, calendar picks and more - minus the newsprint and sent directly to your inbox.

Write Comment

Email to Friend

Print Article

Related Content

Cynthia White...former Denton County Commissioner, if anyone was interested to know. She supported the SH 121 toll road initiative while on Denton County Commissioners Court. She had TxDOT's back then, so when I was successful at getting her voted out of office in 2008...THE DAY she left office it was announced she was hired by TxDOT. THE DAY. I guess Stephen Simmons, Bill Hale & Co. decided going back to Sally Beauty as a store manager was beneath her. Adding your middle name doesn't hide your record, Cynthia. This planned 30 / 35 E design has always struck me as engineers standing around masturbating with the blueprints saying, "Oh, oh--let's try THIS next!!" Kind of like designing state highways right through County squares, Diamond formation, HOV lanes that increase accidents 40% or Managed Lanes that cost an equivalent of $15 PER GALLON in gas taxes. Do you guys SEE why us transportation activists are asking for TxDOT's head on a silver platter?? Relic. Replace it. Give us elected leadership at TxDOT...there's a reason we have a "weak Governor" system in Texas...IT WORKS!!
Dav, ask Bob Stimson, not TxDOT. He is currently soliciting $45,000 to pay Good Farrell & Fulton (sp?) to do another study on Gateway, just like he did for the Bishop Davis study. That means if you have a financial stake in the Gateway project you better pay up now so the plan will be slanted in your favor.
Why you are asking TxDOT, ask about what happened to the Southern Gateway project, 8th street to US 67.
That is a common misperception. My conspiracy-spidey-senes tells me that was spread by oil company executives. Here's a link to a rate chart, which shows a federal tax rate of 9¢ in 1983, a jump to 14.1¢ in1990, and the most recent jump to 18.4¢ eighteen years ago, in 1993: http://www.infrastructurist.com/2010/01/21/how-often-is-the-gas-tax-raised-most-americans-have-no-clue/ Texas adds 20¢ per gallon, for combined state and federal rate of 38.4¢: http://www.gaspricewatch.com/usgastaxes.asp The federal rate is not indexed to inflation. The U.S. inflation rate from 1/1993 through 1/2011 was 54.43%: http://www.inflationdata.com/inflation/Inflation_Calculators/Inflation_Calculator.asp#calcresults So, if the 1993 rate were indexed to inflation, the current tax should be 59.3¢ per gallon instead of 38.4¢. Instead, it has been the same for eighteen years. Last I checked, the cost of concrete and steel had gone up dramatically. We can't expect to pay the same price for government funded highway construction that we paid in 1993. We have to pony up if we want to continue to have roads to drive on.
I noticed last week that parcel of land on the east side of Beckley and south of I-30 (the one the city traded for the maintenance facility property on/near Sylvan & FW Avenue a while back) was up for sale by the city. I wondered what was up with that.
Detroit would be big shoes to fill May we should should start with small like Gary Indiana ?
You're right, Juan. This summer, and the $4/gallon gas prices it brings, is going to be a huge wake up call for us all. The smart folks (and, no, I'm not one of them) are moving closer to town, taking advantage of public transit, etc. The internal combustion engine and 2,000 lbs of car per commuter are not sustainable. We can start looking for alternatives now, or we can wait until we have no choice.
Angela also made a comment that bothered me about how bad the Mixmaster is, but it's not in the top 100 worst bottlenecks in the country
You understand it wrong
As I understand it, the state/feds etc. already pull in more per gallon of gasoline than the companies that manufacture it. Then, the government goes after THEM for excessive profits........wow!!
Chalk up one more piece of damage Leppert did to this City. I had forgotten how he had held Pegasus (and Dead Man's Curve) hostage to the Trinity River Tollroad-- now, the point is moot, because any potential funds we could have attracted have all been spent elsewhere.
What do you mean, they don't collect fares? Every time I've been on I've been asked to show my ticket.
I love Ft Worth, but if it were more like Windsor, that would be really cool.
I don't know that they are broke, they couldn't see how a toll road through the Trinity would justify the cost or provide ample ROI. If they could toll the canyon, I imagine they could find funding for that. Not that that makes it a good idea. I'm with Tim, raise the gas tax; though I wouldn't index it to price
Immediate thoughts: (1) I'm sure there are some buckets of money out there; maybe Leppert can earmark them when he's on the Senate. (2) Isn't that Reunion Arena in the upper-right corner?
Nobody is everybody. We gotta keep the meme going. Dallas is bound to be the next Detroit, dying city, but great fookin' hockey team and produces the next great white rapper. And Fort Worth is Windsor, and Highland Park is Grosse Pointe.
This is not only about the Mix Master...we need to embrace public transportation. Why isnt the city luring developers to construct along the new Green Line? We need densification all over the city. This is about the long term guys! Let's get ready.
Who is NOBODY ?
No room for highways, no money for highways. One answer, not very popular I guess, is more transit. Expand DART, TRE, DTCA services with more frequent trains, more routes. Trouble is, DART is so grossly bloated and mismanaged and doesn't collect fares. Gives mass transit a bad name. But still, it is a lot cheaper than more concrete spaghetti. Sulla
So we need a pointless expensive park downtown, but not mixmasters? Idiotic.
I got an idea. Since nobody likes Dallas anymore, and its an absolute hellhole, let's get rid of all of the downtown mixmaster.
Well duh, no wonder it died! No solar powered water taxis!
lol That would definitely free up the mixmaster and it has about the same chance of happening.
This would normally sound like a reason to "toll up" another part of a highway, but from I understand the NTTA is broke as well.
I thought Project Pegasus meant everybody gets a flying horse.
Good news! Hopefully this kills I-30 widening too.
Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but was Angela Hunt's point about the Trinity Toll Road dumbed down a bit? She clearly said we should've pursued this instead of the toll road that floods, but her first quote is "I don't know where the money is..."
In the drawing, is that ... Reunion Arena? You're right; it's been a while since they updated that.
This is what happens when people refuse to raise the taxes directly linked to highway and road construction (gasoline taxes). Gasoline taxes should be changed from per gallon to a percentage of the price. This would allow them to automatically adjust for both inflation and usage.
I call bullshit on all the 'greenery' shown on that rendering. If Central is any indication, TxDOT won't keep up or maintain ANYTHING once (if?) it is built.
that area sure could use some help to decongest, but yea, there obviously isn't any money to do much at this point