Four pedestrian zones aimed at reuniting Dallas neighborhoods divided by highways are a step closer to reality thanks to $80 million in federal grant awards announced Wednesday.
The North Texas Council of Governments, the regional transportation planning council heading up the projects, applied for the funds. The money is a slice of the more than $3 billion earmarked for similar projects through discretionary grant programs backed by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.
The funds include:
- $20 million for the structures for three pedestrian caps — parks constructed over highways — at Interstate 30 near the Dallas Farmers Market that will reconnect the Cedars neighborhood to downtown. The project will align with the timing of the Texas Department of Transportation’s reconstruction of I-30 and “it is critical that the base structures be constructed now into the roadway project to avoid the inefficiency of taxpayers paying twice to retrofit later,” according to grant documents.
- $20 million for the second phase of Klyde Warren Park, which will extend an existing pedestrian deck park farther south to create additional connections. The expansion will extend the park, which currently connects Uptown with downtown over Woodall Rodgers freeway, 1.7 miles west.
- $25 million for the second phase of Southern Gateway Park, which will finish an initial pedestrian crossing to complete the plaza, stretching from Lancaster Avenue to Marsalis Avenue over Interstate 35E near the Dallas Zoo. The deck for the first phase from Ewing Avenue to Lancaster has already been built, though the construction of amenities is not complete.
- $15 million for an inverted pedestrian deck at State Highway 5 in McKinney. The project will include the construction of a bridge within the corridor and provide pedestrian access in the form of a below-bridge plaza.
Local representatives have been outspoken advocates of several of the projects, which are aimed at addressing the impact transportation engineering has had on disadvantaged neighborhoods.
“This is great news for Oak Cliff and Dallas. I am so proud of the work we’ve done over the years to support this project and secure federal funding,” U.S. Rep. Colin Allred said in an email. “The Southern Gateway Park is more than just a park, it is about connecting communities back together and spurring economic growth in the process.”
Rep. Jasmine Crockett said the projects are a chance to right a “historical wrong” in Dallas.
“Decades of redlining and a legacy of discriminatory infrastructure policy has left majority Black and Brown districts like mine divided and disconnected by noisy, disruptive highways,” Crockett said. “Historically Black neighborhoods like The Cedars and Oak Cliff are criss-crossed by highways that sever our communities and isolate our residents, with little economic benefit to show for the destruction.”
The funding accounts for just over 33% of the more than $236 million in estimated costs for all four projects, but several have already received additional funds from other sources.
“All four highways capped by this project disrupted and displaced local communities, removed historical landmarks and resulted in unequal distribution of resources, leaving one side of the highway more prosperous while the others experienced disinvestment,” a grant document reads. “North Texas highways in many cases were used to intentionally cut off access to daily needs. This project will address these historic inequities.”
