The engineering behind the San Antonio River Walk

https://practical.engineering/blog/2025/1/7/the-hidden-engineering-behind-texass-top-tourist-attraction

by impish9208 • 2 years ago

197 49 2 years ago

I thought the way he referenced the hydraulic pumps compared to electric motors with gear shafts was interesting.

masklinn2• 2 years ago

I spent much of the video wishing for an expansion of the pros and cons though, and why electric motors had been selected originally, and hydraulic pumps had been selected as their replacement.

dgfitz• 2 years ago

The engineering is fascinating. The river walk itself is hardly worth the trip.

dylan6043• 2 years ago

It's the same thing as anyone recommending a visit to high street, the Santa Monica 3rd Street promenade, SF's Embarcadero, NYC's 5th Ave or Times Square, or any other touristy area of a city. It is what it is.

bombcar• 2 years ago

I find those to be highly worth visiting if you’re in the area.

But few are worth making them the centerpiece of an entire trip.

db48x6• 2 years ago

It’s a pleasant spot. Texas is dry and hot as a rule, but the river walk is a level below the city, right at the water’s edge, with trees providing ample shade for the whole length. If you are visiting San Antonio you will definitely want to eat lunch there so that you can be in the shade during the hottest part of the day.

But is it special enough to make it worth a trip to San Antonio just to see the it? No, probably not. You probably live near a river, and there are probably restaurants with a deck you can sit on while you eat lunch. Go to San Antonio to see the Alamo and remember all who died for your freedom there, then as long as you’re in the area go to the river for a leisurely lunch.

closewith• 2 years ago

remember all who died for your freedom there

The Mexicans or the Texans?

dylan6043• 2 years ago

Not a bad comment until BAM! The Alamo is such a lackluster disappointing building. It's tiny. Even if you know it is small, it is still impressive in how small it really is. It is the exact opposite of knowing how big the Grand Canyon is but still being amazed at its size when you visit in person. It's also a total let down in that no bicycles were found there.

sokoloff• 2 years ago

Texas is dry and hot as a rule

Brownsville and Houston would like a word… (Texas is a huge state and coastal Texas is not dry.)

esalman• 2 years ago

It's pretty much the only thing to see South of Austin. Except for Big Bend but that's further West.

superq3• 2 years ago

Starbase, too and the hill country towns. And also way out west, Marfa.

stevenwoo2• 2 years ago

There are a lot of cool museums if one happens to be in Houston IMHO. Also I dunno if they have the gigantic exhibits from the 1960s and 1970s still, but as a kid the Johnson Space Center impressed me.

mleo• 2 years ago

Having grown up in San Antonio, I have many memories of spending time as a teenager downtown and around the river walk.

The best time to visit is during the riverboat parade after Thanksgiving. Everything is lit up and many restaurants along the route offer dinner and nice views. Going during the summer can be incredibly hot and uncomfortable.

jfk13• 2 years ago

Yes, agreed! The first time I visited San Antonio (as a Brit who was based in Dallas for some months) happened to be at exactly that time. We didn't know anything about it, but found ourselves on the river walk in the evening, and along came the parade of boats bringing Pancho Claus & co... it was a lovely surprise and a beautiful evening.

TechPlasma• 2 years ago

Grew in San Antonio as well and one of the best parts about the Riverwalk is that it offers a fantastic pedestrian corridor across almost the entirety of downtown San Antonio and connects a lot of really interesting places, The missions down south, Pearl Brewery and it's shopping district, downtown mall and Convention center as well as La Villita and The Art Museum.

Sure you can walk the streets but getting around via the Riverwalk is actually extremely pleasant. I really love how convinient of a convention city San Antonio is.

DontchaKnowit• 2 years ago

San antonio is easily my favkrite city in the US. Awesome, food, events, bars, music scene (saw some sweet ultraviolence bads there) etc. The city is pretty, clean,easy to navigate. Its just great

dinkumthinkum• 2 years ago

I would highly endorse the Practical Engineering YouTube channel, it’s quite nice!

mythrwy• 2 years ago

The first time I visited San Antonio I'd never heard of the river walk.

We were simply walking along the street downtown and saw some stairs leading down and many people taking them so we went down and a whole magical world opened up. (I went back later and it wasn't nearly as magical).

zeristor• 2 years ago

You make it sound like Rivendell

Brajeshwar• 2 years ago

Last year, I spent some time in Amsterdam and stayed at an Airbnb whose patio/balcony-ish extended to a canal (my host was a super awesome person, by the way). As a tourist to the new experience, it was kinda scary for me but this seems to be a normal thing for the locals.

Besides the ever-pleasing view, including the casual peeks from the window, I spent a lot of time, pretty much every day, walking on the sides of many other canals — that engineering is something to think about.

I read somewhere that it is even more beautiful and breathtaking in the outskirts and beyond the city. I need to revisit to experience those.

perdomon2• 2 years ago

What was scary about the canals? That your patio hung over them?

openrisk• 2 years ago

Interesting and refreshing choice to stick to a pure textual description without the usual torrent of photos. Needs frequent looking up of terms though :-)

As for the river walk itself, living in Amsterdam predisposes you to treat the bone-dry, car infested asphalt and concrete jungles we call cities as weird places where humanity aggregates for ritualistic suffering. Discovering that San Antonio is different was a great and pleasant surprise.

masklinn2• 2 years ago

Interesting and refreshing choice to stick to a pure textual description without the usual torrent of photos. Needs frequent looking up of terms though :-)

It's the transcript of a video (at the top), so there is little reason to bother with pictures: if you want visuals you can watch the video, or use it as a slideshow.

perdomon2• 2 years ago

Grady has a popular YouTube channel by the same name (Practical Engineering) with great photos, videos, graphs, and homemade demos. I am not a real engineer, but his videos bridge the gap between complex mechanical ideas and the layperson with well-designed experiments.

extraduder_ire• 2 years ago

I watched the video version of this article. I think this is only the 2nd or 3rd video in his "practical construction" series on the channel.

I assume there's many more currently in the works, based on how long this one was in production during the replacement of the flood gates. I'm glad that the city, engineers, and contractors let him document the construction process and make a video about it.

I also thought it was pretty cool in a strange sort of way to see each of their logos in the video's credits. Not something I'm used to seeing from independent (if you ignore nebula studios) youtubers.

magic_smoke_ee• 2 years ago

I just watched the gate replacement video with my mom 2 days ago. She's from SA. It's neat that they thought to turn it into a tourist thing rather than fill it in. Sometimes, the most expedient choice isn't the best one.

If you're ever downtown, checkout the Chihuly installations in the main library. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/fiesta-tower

ifakeyou• 2 years ago

I have lived in San Antonio for the past 2 years as an international student studying at UTSA. Never in my life, I have heard of San Antonio, Alamo, or even riverwalk before I moved to San Antonio, later I heard lot of great things about the Riverwalk and caves of San Antonio when I was researching. Personally, I doubt it, I agree it looks great in pictures, but I don't even know why people like it, the water is super dirty, the only thing which makes it look good are the lighting decoration on the trees. Though the history of San Antonio is very fascinating, and the battle of alamo etc..Its a very quiet and boring place tbh :D

Over2Chars• 2 years ago

Everyone who is a fan of Pee Wee Herman has heard of the Alamo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cHLoHou8uY

finiche• 2 years ago

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The engineering behind the San Antonio River Walk

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