Optimism Still High In Shadow Of Hunt Hill Bridge

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The economy may be in the doldrums,  but some West Dallas businesses have their eyes on the horizon and the new "Signature Bridge" taking shape.

The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge is the first of three designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava to literally and symbolically link downtown with West Dallas and Oak Cliff.

Three years ago Sarah Guzman and her husband sunk their savings into the SP Styling and Nail Salon near the mouth of the 1st Signature Bridge that connects Woodall Rodgers Freeway with Singleton Boulevard.  Their original plan has been modified some...it's mostly a barber shop now.   But it's still a going business and their optimism remains as strong as it was then.  "I think with the bridge it will be a lot nicer and more people will come this way."

The Hill Bridge has just passed a milestone, with the first of 15-hundred bright white cables being strung.   The completed project is taking shape slowly because  high winds have repeatedly delayed the cabling process.

Completion can't come soon enough for Sunny Walia.  He created the Sunny Food Mart after hearing about the bridge six years ago. "It's very important for us," he tells CBS 11, "and all West Dallas businesses, because we're going to get a lot of traffic and a lot of business."

Between the widening of Singleton Boulevard and bridge building, construction has disrupted Walia's business for four years.  "We don't get a lot of people (local customers) because of the construction going on," he tells us.  But he expects to get those customers back.   "I'm glad it's going to be almost finished, so it's good for us."

If the weather and the wind cooperate and the rest of these 15-hundred cables can be strung, the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge should open late this year.