Apart from a nice view of downtown and a look at the swampy Trinity River bottom, there isn't much to see at the corner of Beckley and Commerce streets.

G.J. MCCARTHY/DMN

With canvas awnings spreading out like white wings, the new Trinity River overlook at Beckley and Commerce streets is designes to give people a place to peer at progress on the Trinity River project.

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The recent exception is the sharply designed Trinity River overlook that City Hall plans to unveil today.

With canvas awnings spreading out like white wings, the idea is to give people a place to peer at progress on the Trinity River project. But for now, the overlook may be the most interesting thing you'll see.

"Unfortunately, our greatest concerns have been confirmed. We're no closer to having either the park or the toll road constructed than we were a year ago," said City Council member Angela Hunt, a toll road opponent who has pledged to track the project's progress.

City officials say there has been progress on the long-promised Trinity lakes, park and toll road but it's been behind the scenes.

They note that design work will finally begin on the toll road this month, a major milestone given the history of delay.

Yet as recently as Tuesday afternoon, there were signals that the design work could stretch beyond its planned completion date in May. In a meeting of the council's Trinity River project committee, council member Dave Neumann pressed the city staff and the North Texas Tollway Authority not to fall behind.

"I have to ring the alarm bell now. Ringing the alarm bell in March will be too late," he said.

No one has promised the work will be done in time for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin an environmental study that will determine whether the toll road, lakes and park are built at all. And if the design work is completed on time, there is no assurance the process won't have to begin anew once the corps has its input.

"We've always said this design is at risk. If there is a fatal flaw that comes out of the environmental document, we will have to go back and make changes," said Rebecca Dugger, director of the Trinity River project for Dallas.

Still, steps have been taken:

•The recent opening of the Trinity River Audubon Center in southeast Dallas. The $14 million center transformed a notorious dump site.

•The start of construction of footings for the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge at Woodall Rodgers Freeway and Singleton Boulevard. City officials say they are confident construction will begin in spring.

•Significant strides in improving the Trinity's flood control properties. The first in a chain of "wetland cells" was recently completed near the Great Trinity Forest. Mr. Neumann said the cells have already increased flood control capacity by a foot.

•Three miles of trails carved out in Rochester Park along the Great Trinity Forest. Work on another trail system, known as the Trinity Trail, is under way from Loop 12 to Simpson Stuart Road.

•A series of zoning changes intended to spur development in areas surrounding the Trinity. The council has approved zoning for a massive development by Irving-based JPI.

Even as the city can point to accomplishments, there is little for the public to see at the heart of the project – at the point of the overlook where the city hopes people will one day see the lakes, park and toll road.

It's still unclear when those will become a reality, although the city is holding to a goal of completing the road by 2014.

With so many variables, doubt is never far away.

"All of this is predicated on the idea the city of Dallas has some control over a timeline that is absolutely out of its control and purview," Ms. Hunt said.