
Lewisville Dam: The Dam Called Trouble - jcater
http://interactives.dallasnews.com/2015/lewisville-dam/
======
noir_lord
It's interesting and sad to me (here in the UK) that both the US and UK seem
to be so short-sighted when it comes to repairing/maintaining and improving
critical infrastructure.

I get that they aren't big flashy projects but you would think that when you
have infrastructure that affects the lives of literally millions of people we
could do better.

The Victorians here celebrated public infrastructure projects so much that
they often organised tours of new projects after completion, which is one of
the reasons why when you go look at Victorian stuff (even sewage works) they
are often so beautifully finished, it was infrastructure as both art and
statement.

[https://thelondonphile.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/img_4714....](https://thelondonphile.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/img_4714.jpg)
that's from a pumping station/ _sewage_ plant.

Also I can genuinely recommend
[http://thelondonphile.com/](http://thelondonphile.com/) I'm a Northerner in
the North but it's a fascinating look at London and it's heritage, lots of
places I want to visit.

------
marcusgarvey
>But what the Corps tells itself about the Lewisville Dam is different from
what it tells the public. “We want to get the message out that there’s a
potential for something bad to happen, but we don’t want to unduly panic the
public,” says an official involved in the communications. “So we sugarcoat the
message a bit.”

It may be time to change strategy. Is it the politicians holding the purse
strings of the Army Corps of Engineers? It may be time to light a fire under
their asses. Panicked constituents can do that.

------
adrianN
With estimated damages on the order of billions and a "high risk"
classification, I wonder why it apparently is hard to get the necessary
millions for repairs.

~~~
ghshephard
Particularly when they have a downstream population at risk that includes the
city of Dallas - population 1.25mm+

~~~
techsupporter
Most of Dallas isn't in the flood plain for the Trinity River, but the most
expensive bits (Downtown, Uptown, some parts of the Park Cities) are. Those
places are, somewhat, protected by the Trinity River levees...the same levees
that the occasional person who doesn't understand how levees are supposed to
work wants to build a toll road inside of.

Trinity Parkway:
[http://transportationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/12/10-things-t...](http://transportationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/12/10-things-
to-know-about-trinity-parkway.html/)

------
xellisx
Glad I don't live there anymore (for many reasons).

