The hike-and-bike sections of the Margaret McDermott Bridge over the Trinity River are now set to open in 2022 — five years later than originally announced.

And that's only if the Dallas City Council on Wednesday votes to spend $7.1 million on fixes needed to open the sides of the $115 million bridge, which remain barricaded because of cable anchors shattered by high winds.

On Monday, city officials told the council's Mobility Solutions, Infrastructure and Sustainability Committee that the council really didn't have a choice: Either the city could pay the Texas Department of Transportation the $7 million needed to make necessary fixes, or City Hall would likely owe 13 times that amount to the state.

At Monday's committee meeting, Far North Dallas council member Sandy Greyson told Sarah Standifer, a Dallas Water Utilities assistant director, that "part of me feels like this is throwing good money after bad." She asked what happens if the council doesn't approve the expenditure Wednesday and keeps the paths closed.

"I would presume TxDOT would come to the city asking us to pay back the money," Standifer told Greyson.

Standifer said after the meeting the reason the city would owe money is because it contracted with the state to build the pedestrian and cycling paths — the so-called signature elements of the bridge. A series of eight different federal bills relating to the Interstate 30 bridge funded the features. If the features are rendered permanently useless, Standifer said, the feds would ask the state to refund more than $91 million, and TxDOT would demand it back from City Hall, which cut corners to keep escalating costs down.

Instead, Standifer and her bosses are asking the council to approve spending the $7.1 million. Standifer said that money originally came from TxDOT when it paid the city for land acquisition and easements needed to build the bridge.

At issue is the cable anchor system that connects the bridge's arches — designed by architect Santiago Calatrava — to the base of the pier-and-beam concrete bridge over the Trinity. The system has repeatedly failed. City Manager T.C. Broadnax, in a memo sent to council members last summer, called the failures "premature fatigue" caused by high winds that rattle the cables and shatter the anchors.

For the last year, two options have been on the table: retrofitting the existing system with new anchors, or replacing all the cables. Either way, "both options call for additional cable dampers," Assistant City Manager Majed Al-Ghafry wrote in a memo sent to council at the end of March.

1 / 4Signs prohibiting pedestrians from entering the hike-and-bike section along the Margaret McDermott Bridge in Dallas on Monday(Rose Baca / Staff Photographer) 2 / 4Cables attached to arches rise over the pedestrian and bike lane of the Margaret McDermott bridge, which spans the Trinity River on I-30 in Dallas(David Woo / Staff Photographer) 3 / 4Arches rise over the pedestrian and bike lanes of the Margaret McDermott bridge(David Woo / Staff Photographer) 4 / 4Cables attached to rods rise from girders alongside the pedestrian and bike lane of the Margaret McDermott bridge. Under the plan council will vote on this week, the cables will all be replaced.(David Woo / Staff Photographer)

In February, TxDOT's contractor ruled out the retrofit option "due to a level of uncertainty of fabrication engineering and non-standard components," Al-Ghafry said. That's how replacing all the cables became the one and only option at the $7.1 million price tag.

But even that's not a sure bet. According to council materials, a test of the proposed fix would take about six months, after which the council would get a better idea of how long the redo could take.

"Work may proceed more quickly than currently estimated," says the document — or it could take longer, based on recent history.

Al-Ghafry's March 29 memo said the city could consider a "partial opening of the pedestrian and bicycle components prior to the completion of both bridges." But that possibility has been floated before and has never happened.

Then again, little has gone as planned for what was originally proposed as the second of three Calatrava bridges spanning the Trinity.

Initially the bridge was supposed to cost around $102 million. But in early 2013, the city got hit with sticker shock when it was revealed that those so-called signature elements would cost $12 million more than expected.

City officials said they'd cover the cost overrun with private donations, bond money and value engineering. Documents prepared for Wednesday's council meeting say "several value engineering strategies" — including the elimination of stress tests — helped knock down the cost to around $112.5 million.

Installation of the steel arches was completed in 2017, long after vehicular traffic began using the bridge. The hike-and-bike section was originally supposed to open shortly after the bridge got its decorations.

Mayor Pro Tem Casey Thomas on Monday asked Standifer how long the city has known about the problem. Her answer: since the spring of 2016, when "a cable came unattached."

City officials were also told last year that the repair estimate was between $2 million and $6 million — but that was before the contractor had been consulted or solutions had been picked and approved.

The 34-month waiting period exceeds estimates given last summer, when supervising engineer firm Huitt-Zollars told the city that repairs should take eight to 15 months.

A contentious discussion about the $7.1 million expenditure could occur Wednesday. Several council members have taken to calling the bridge a boondoggle on par with the Dallas Wave white-water project recently ripped out of the Trinity River. The city spent $4 million to install the feature — and then $2 million more to remove it.

Pleasant Grove's Rickey Callahan tried to find the bright side of the I-30 issue.

"They're signature bridges, they are beautiful, they are one of a kind," Callahan said. "Nobody wants to put good money after bad ... but this is the best way of doing it."