Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Spring Creek Nature Preserve

Pave paradise, put up a reliever road

Jeffrey Weiss Ian McCann, in The Dallas Morning News Richardson blog, reports that "Construction crews are wrapping up work on Routh Creek Parkway, which connects [Richardson's] Glenville Drive to Renner Road, a reliever route for traffic from the new Blue Cross Blue Shield building."

Good news? Not so fast. As the original article from 2008 about the new Routh Creek Parkway puts it, "there isn't often the opportunity to plan and build a road on previously untouched land in a city as built-out as Richardson."

And it's a shame they did. Slicing through the Spring Creek Nature Preserve for a reliever route might be a convenience for Blue Cross employees, but it's a permanent loss to anyone who enjoyed the solitude that that tiny bit of unspoiled nature provided to residents of Richardson. Walk through it sometime. You'll see.

P.S. Apologies to Joni Mitchell for the headline.

P.P.S. No apologies to Rodger Jones, who, as "DART Man", wanted to see a sidewalk built down the shoulder of Central Expressway so he wouldn't have to walk a paved trail in the woods through the Spring Creek Nature Preserve.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Um -- that's Ian's post, friend...

I know all us DMN-ers look alike...1:-{)>


Jeff Weiss
DMN

Ed Cognoski said...

Oops. Thanks for the correction.

bill h said...

Ed, just saw this. I hike the Spring Creek all the time. Just last weekend through on of the meadows. I've hiked over to the road, and it is sad, the it cuts through a delightful and pretty untouched area. We need these nature preserves, well at least I do

Ed Cognoski said...

bill h, thanks for the feedback. Most people don't know that the preserve is actually much smaller than it seems. All that undeveloped land by the cemeteries (yes, there are two of them tucked back there) is on private land, not part of the park. And all that wooded land along Renner Rd is private, too. When all the bordering land gets developed, there will be precious little place in the Spring Creek Nature Preserve that you will be able to actually get out of sight of the city.

bill h said...

Man, that's a really depressing thought. I wish I could think of a way to preserve it, cause it's a special spot. I love the paved trail, but I often sit on that bluff by Jacob's grave. I sit, journal, read a book, and even sing a hymn on occasion. I love the way you can hear the water thirty feet below.

I always carry an extra garbage bag and haul out trash.

Anonymous said...

You might want to ask our mayor, Gary Slagel, about the road. This was his "brain child" when he was mayor several years ago. It didn't matter to him what the road went through as long as it was completed. So much for nature preservation or ecology. Folks should be outranged.

Ed Cognoski said...

"Anonymous" at 6/13/2009 9:56 AM, thanks for the feedback. I don't recall the discussion at the time, but I'm sure the road received city council approval. My guess would be that it was part of the package used to attract Blue Cross to build their new office tower in Richardson. I can't say I wouldn't have approved the road myself, given the benefits of that.

bill h said...

Hiked there this morning. Saw a hummingbird feeding on the yucca next to Jacob's grave. I had no idea how much of that is private. That's depressing. I guess I better enjoy it while I can, because it's a wonderful area