Dallas City Hall needs to make some decisions – and fast – about how to design the Continental Avenue pedestrian bridge over the Trinity River and whether to include a streetcar line that would run from downtown to West Dallas and Oak Cliff.

The bridge, which currently serves as key river crossing for cars, is set to be closed to auto traffic in the spring of 2011, when the new Margaret Hunt Hill bridge is to open.

At that point, conversion of the Continental Avenue bridge into a pedestrian bridge – conceived as a park with meandering walkways and a straight-line bicycle path – could begin.

But whether the bridge will be primarily a park or turned over to transit remains to be seen.

"We have a fundamental decision we have to make early in this project so we don't waste design time," Assistant City Manager Jill Jordan told the City Council's Trinity River project committee.

Several council members signaled that they don't think the pedestrian bridge is the right place for a streetcar line but asked that the bridge be designed so that right-of-way could be used in the future for a streetcar.

"I'm leaning not to put that streetcar there right now," said council member Linda Koop.

She suggested that a better place for a line might be the Houston Street Viaduct or the Commerce Street bridge.

The entire Continental project hinges on completion of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, something that has been uncertain since the Army Corps of Engineers declined to allow construction of its approaches.

The corps is concerned that the approaches could compromise the levees.

This week, officials of the Texas Department of Transportation expect to submit to the corps a construction plan that they say would protect the levees.

Officials at City Hall are hopeful the plan will be approved by early December, keeping the bridge on track for a 2011 completion.

During today's committee meeting, city staff members updated the council about progress being made on a host of maintenance problems the corps identified in the levees.

The city has repaired 105 of 198 maintenance problems, including everything from erosion to high weeds.

Rain in September and October slowed progress, officials said.

The levees have been rated unacceptable by the corps, and the city is continuing to study and implement long-term repairs to the whole Dallas flood control system.