In 2017, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) began planning for the complete reconstruction of I-35E. Recognizing an opportunity to right the wrong that occurred 50 years earlier, TxDOT held a series of community meetings seeking feedback on the redesign of the southern portion of I-35E. In addition to wide sidewalks and bike lanes on the newly added service roads, the design includes a “deck” over the highway between Ewing Avenue and Marsalis Avenue. This deck was designed to support a park with the same basic infrastructure as Dallas’ Klyde Warren Park. According to TxDOT, the foundation to support the Park will be shovel-ready by 2022.
In 2017, Opportunity Dallas convened a task force to study the effects of segregation and lack of affordable housing available in Dallas. The study found that a lack of mobility and investment in low-income communities plays a major role in generational poverty. Their study, presented to the City of Dallas in early 2018, revealed that the new Park will connect two of the lowest-income census tracts in Dallas, helping to address the lack of mobility while generating economic investment in the surrounding areas. The same study ranks Dallas at the top of the list of major cities in the U.S. that experience extreme concentrated poverty. This study demonstrates the immediate need for an effective solution to generate economic growth in the surrounding area of the Park.
The construction of the R.L. Thornton Freeway (I-35E) cut directly through the heart of the Tenth Street neighborhood, demolishing homes and businesses. (Credit caption and photo to AIA Dallas.)
The Foundation is seeking funding to design and construct a park, the Southern Gateway Park, on this highway deck — creating more than five acres of new urban green space as a focal point for development and economic revitalization. This project, like similar landmark projects in Dallas, will act as the premier catalyst for development, spurring economic mobility, giving surrounding residents more access to amenities, and bridging two communities for their mutual benefit.
The Park, combined with the ongoing TxDOT project to reconstruct this stretch of highway, is the largest capital project of its kind in the history of Southern Dallas, $47 million of which is dedicated to building the infrastructure to support the park. The design and construction costs for the overlaying deck park are estimated at $65 million.