Trinity River (Texas)

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Map of the Trinity River and associated watershed

The Trinity River north of downtown Fort Worth

The Trinity River is a river in the state of Texas in the United States. It rises in extreme north Texas, just a few miles south of the Red River. Its headwaters are separated from the Red River basin by the high bluffs on the south side of the Red River. It is the longest river completely within the state of Texas. (See: List of the ten longest Texas rivers)

The Trinity River was named after the Holy Trinity of the Christian faith. Despite its name it has four forks: The Clear Fork, the Elm Fork, the West Fork, and the East Fork, each of which is considered part of the Trinity. The West Fork flows eastward through the city of Fort Worth while the Clear Fork flows northeastward through Fort Worth; the two forks meet near downtown. The Elm Fork flows south from near Gainesville, Texas and east of the city of Denton. Those two rivers merge as they enter the city of Dallas and form the Trinity River proper. The East Fork begins near McKinney, Texas and joins the Trinity River just southeast of Dallas.

The Trinity then flows southeastward from Dallas across the farming regions and pine forests of eastern Texas. Roughly 65 miles north of the mouth, an earthen damn was built in 1968 to form Lake Livingston. It flows onward south, into the Trinity Bay, an arm of Galveston Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, east of the city of Houston.

Plans for a shipping channel along the length of the Trinity River were scrapped, as they would have required extensive dredging to make the river navigable, though several overpasses were built at very high clearances in anticipation of the channel being built. There are, however, current plans being developed to turn the Trinity River flood zone in downtown Dallas into the nation's largest urban park with 3 signature bridges designed by acclaimed architect Santiago Calatrava[link]. (See: Trinity River Project).

A similar project is planned by the Tarrant Regional Water District, City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Streams & Valleys Inc, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to develop an area north of "downtown" as "uptown" along the Trinity River. This plan promotes a large mixed use development adjacent to the central city area of Fort Worth, with a goal to prevent urban sprawl by promoting the growth of a healthy, vibrant urban core. The Trinity River Vision lays the groundwork to enable Fort Worth's central business district to double in size over the next 40 years. [link]

Tributaries

• Johnson Creek
• Red Oak Creek

See also

• List of Texas rivers
• List of the ten longest Texas rivers

External links

• [Trinity River Authority]
• [Trinity River Corridor Project]
• [Plans for a shipping channel along the length of the Trinity River]
• [Trinity River] from the Handbook of Texas Online

• [Trinity River Authority] from the Handbook of Texas Online

• [Trinity River Navigation Projects] from the Handbook of Texas Online

• [Historic photos of Corps of Engineers lock and dam projects throughout Texas in 1910-20s from the Portal to Texas History]
• [Map of the planned Dallas park system].

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