Is Dallas unsafe for walking? Fatality prompts call for pedestrian zone at Akard Street

Adolphus Hotel employee Lisa Jordan was walking to an employee parking garage last summer when she was struck by a car at Commerce and Akard streets in downtown Dallas. Jordan died from her injuries shortly after the collision.

Accidents like the one that killed Jordan are far too common downtown, say some Dallas residents. That’s why Akard Street resident Hexel Colorado launched a Change.org petition to create a pedestrian mall — a car-free zone restricted to pedestrians — on Akard between Elm and Commerce. In pedestrian malls, cars have access only for essential activities like emergencies and trash services.

His petition has collected nearly 1,000 signatures since it was created Feb. 27.

Colorado, a software developer who runs the Dallas Urbanists social media account, tweeted about the accident in August. He’d spent time thinking through what could make the area safer. A friend’s close call brought the issue full circle and led to the appeal to Dallas officials to do more to address pedestrian safety.

Courtney Hunter was crossing Commerce Street at Akard with her dog in late February when she was clipped by a Chevy Suburban. Though she suffered only a minor injury to her hand and wrist, she knows the accident could have been much worse.

“We were able to hop out of the way. The only contact was like, hey, they ran into my hand while I’m scooting out of the way,” Hunter said. “But if it was a child, if it was a disabled person who wasn’t able to jump out of the way, it’d be a different story.”

She was familiar with Jordan’s accident — Hunter’s neighbor worked with Jordan downtown.

The call for more attention to public safety has been echoed by residents in several neighborhoods throughout the city. Speeding, red-light running and a lack of pedestrian safety have all been identified by residents of Ferguson Road in East Dallas, and neighbors on Mockingbird Lane want a traffic light installed after a fatal crash at a nearby intersection.

Dallas has a higher road fatality rate than any other U.S. city its size, KXAS-TV (NBC5) reported in November. While only 2% of Dallasites walk to work, pedestrians account for 30% of traffic deaths. Experts speculate road design plays a role in encouraging speed over safety.

Officials want to make the city safer. Dallas is 18 months into a Vision Zero plan to eliminate traffic fatalities and cut severe injuries in half by 2030. Preliminary data shows pedestrian injuries in Dallas crashes last year were the highest since 2019.

Some city leaders have been outspoken about what they see as a lack of progress in moving forward quickly with the plan’s goals.

The section of Akard where Jordan was killed isn’t one of the 15 worst spots for pedestrians identified in the plan, though Pacific Avenue from Akard to Interstate 45 was identified as one of the deadliest for bicyclists.

The top 15 road segments for serious and fatal crashes involving pedestrians are:

• Maple Avenue at Hudnall Street to Oak Lawn.
• MLK Jr. at SM Wright to Botham Jean Boulevard.
• Great Trinity Forest Way at Ledbetter Drive to I-45.
• Wheatland at Duncanville city limit to Kirnwood.
• Ledbetter Drive at Lancaster Road to Great Trinity Forest.
• Bruton Road at Prairie Creek Road to Masters Drive.
• Buckner Boulevard at John West Road to I-30.
• Jupiter Road at I-635 to Garland.
• Cedar Springs Road at Dallas North Tollway to Turtle Creek.
• Forest Lane at Audelia Road to Garland city limit.
• Jefferson Boulevard at Edgefield Avenue to Zang Boulevard.
• Jefferson Boulevard at Zang Boulevard to Fleming.
• Great Trinity Forest Way at Jim Miller Road to U.S. Highway 175.
• Cedar Springs Road at Turtle Creek Boulevard to Field Street.
• Northwest Highway at Harry Hines Boulevard to Timberline Drive.

Colorado said he thinks car access on the section of Akard isn’t necessary, since there are no parking garages with entrances or exits, and motorists would not need to detour more than a block to nearby Elm, Main or Commerce streets to reach their destination.

The change could also enhance walkability downtown and create a flexible public space that could benefit nearby businesses, Colorado said. Closing off the street would be as simple as putting up traffic barriers like those used for temporary construction closures.

Dallas leaders are open to ideas from the public on how to improve safety, according to director of transportation Gus Khankarli, but a formal process is required to implement changes.

“Generally speaking, we have to go through the due diligence process and the due diligence will include our partners at Downtown Dallas Inc. and then you have the input also from the property owners, from emergency personnel like the Dallas Fire Rescue and Dallas Police Department,” Khankarli said. “And then of course, you have to check into what ordinances are applicable or could be limiting constraints and so on. These are all factors that will have to go into the process as we look into whether something is viable.”

A council request would first have to come to the transportation department to trigger the process, Khankarli said. Hunter has reached out to council member Paul Ridley’s office, though Ridley said last week he hadn’t yet seen the petition.

Reimagining downtown as a more pedestrian-friendly space isn’t far-fetched, said Evan Sheets, vice president of planning and policy at Downtown Dallas Inc. City leaders and stakeholders have had conversations about doing just that.

“The city has long acknowledged that Akard has an opportunity to be rethought to be more functional, to be safer and more pedestrian-oriented,” Sheets said. “What that solution is requires rolling up sleeves and really meeting with folks that use it for access to their hotels or access to the restaurants, folks who use it as program space or just to get to or from work. And then [figuring out] how to balance all those needs and come up with a solution that meets the overall goal of a vibrant, attractive, safe public space.”

Downtown business owners have their own concerns. They’ve seen nearby Pegasus Plaza bring more crime to downtown, Adolphus Hotel director of sales and marketing Sam Tucker said.

“I’m a huge proponent of things that add more usable, friendly space and less traffic but we already have a space like that in Pegasus Plaza that’s actually more problematic than it does good,” Tucker said.

Instead, Tucker would like to see greater police presence downtown to address dangerous driving.

“I think it makes more sense for us to have a little bit more of a heightened security patrol, a police patrol in these places because time and time again we see on all of our four corners, we see people running lights, we see people illegally parked, jaywalking, street racing, speeding,” Tucker said. “That’s a real issue.”

The Dallas Police Department responded to an initial email for comment but did not answer questions in time for publication.

If a pedestrian mall isn’t something Dallas officials want to commit to, Hunter and Colorado said concrete steps need to be taken. Certain measures such as raised medians can reduce pedestrian crashes by nearly 50%, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

“A project can vary from very far on one side of that spectrum, from the automobile, to the fully other side of the spectrum, which is only pedestrian,” Sheets said. “I think there’s a whole range in there that requires a significant amount of input to understand what the right solution is for that space.”

Jordan is survived by her husband, Steven, and 20-year-old daughter, Savannah.

Steven, who also works downtown, said he’s seen how dangerous the area can be for pedestrians and supports the petition.

“She [Jordan] did everything she was supposed to do, and it still happened,” he said.

Kundin Nadew, who was driving the car that struck Jordan, was charged with a second-degree felony. Nadew’s case is set to enter the pre-trial discovery phase this summer, court records show. The Dallas Morning News requested the August crash report early this month but has not received it. Police said the investigation is ongoing.

Advocates hope Jordan’s death will be the last, but they stress that requires intervention.

“My close encounter was not the only one,” Hunter said. “A woman literally died, and she was following the rules, she was following the design. And it’s still not safe.”