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The Trinity Trust Presents Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge Documentary Bridging The Trinity For The Love

The Trinity Trust presents a documentary about the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge titled Bridging The Trinity For The Love Of The City on June 13 on WFAA-TV Channel 8 at 6:30 p.m. The 30-minute film illustrates the building of the cable-stayed bridge beginning with the first announcements in 2001 and completing with the opening celebrations in 2012.

Dr. Gail Thomas, president and CEO of The Trinity Trust, said, “In March, more than 40,000 people attended the opening celebration of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. With this film, we can relive that celebratory moment and all of the dramatic moments leading up to it. On June 13, we will watch how this bridge was built, from the groundbreaking and topping off of the arch to the stringing of cables and three-day opening celebration.” The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge Celebration was co-hosted by the City of Dallas, The Trinity Trust and the Trinity Commons Foundation.

More than a decade in the making, the half-hour special is the work of award-winning, veteran documentary team of Judy Kelly, producer/writer, and Ginny Martin, photographer/editor. 

Beginning with Ambassador and former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk’s appeal to the community in 2001, which began the public/private partnership to finance the signature bridge, and ending with a challenge for the public to support efforts to reclaim the Trinity River, the program introduces all of the bridge builders, led by Spanish artist, architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava. 

Featured in the program are the many architects, engineers, truck drivers, ironworkers, welders, crane operators, cable installation crews, electricians and highway constructors who worked on the bridge, as well as the politicians, philanthropists and the community representatives behind the effort to build Calatrava’s first vehicular bridge in America.

Through Hunt Petroleum, the Hill family made a lead gift in honor of their mother, Margaret Hunt Hill, for Dallas to have an iconic bridge. The Eugene McDermott Foundation also contributed generously to the bridge.

In addition, the documentary includes footage of middle school students who built a 20-foot model of the cable-stayed bridge after they visited the bridge construction site and spoke with the engineers.  During the Engineering Workshop, sponsored by The Trinity Trust in partnership with SMU’s Summer Youth Program of the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development, SMU’s Talented and Gifted Program, the teenagers express how the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge will better connect Dallas and its citizens.   

Bridging The Trinity For The Love Of The City concludes with scenes of the community gathered on the bridge including the Parade of Builders and West Dallas Chamber of Commerce’s Parade of Giants, a levee run, a street fair, and opening ceremonies to celebrate this hallmark of the greater Trinity River project.

About The Trinity Trust Foundation: The Trinity Trust Foundation helps the city by raising private funds for this $2.2 billion urban park project. Donations from the private sector will add amenities such as the signature Calatrava bridges, lakes, a central island, a white water course, amphitheaters, and ball fields. The foundation also reaches out into the community to educate citizens about the project with presentations, symposia, and events. More information can be found by calling 214.740.1616, by emailing info@thetrinitytrust.org, or by visiting www.thetrinitytrust.org

 

About the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge: Opened in March 2012, the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge transforms the Dallas skyline and Dallas’ relationship to the 20-mile green space known as the Trinity River Corridor. The bridge joins more than a dozen downtown bridges, all overlooking the Trinity River that runs beneath them. Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge also connects West Dallas with the heart of downtown, instigating new urban conservation and development revitalization efforts in a historically underserved part of the city. According to the Texas Department of Transportation, the bridge costs $82 million, and the highway approaches and land cost more than $100 million.

The adjacent Continental Avenue Bridge will soon be transformed into a pedestrian plaza and gateway park also connecting West Dallas with the Design District and downtown. The Sylvan bridge construction begins in 2012, and the Margaret McDermott Bridge, replacing the I-30 bridge, begins construction in 2013.

Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge (Daniel Driensky)
Tuesday, 29 May 2012