Driving Interstate 30 through Downtown Dallas reflects just how little you can see above towering walls marking what many refer to as “The Canyon.”
It’s a divide Willis Johnson said has shaped Dallas over the last half-century.
“It is still the tale of two cities,” Johnson said. “And the dividing line pretty much has either been the Trinity (River) or Interstate 30.”
Johnson, a longtime radio host, political consultant, and entrepreneur, hopes the Dallas City Council's vote on Wednesday will signal a step toward erasing the divide created by I-30.
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The Texas Department of Transportation already has plans to redesign the freeway through downtown. When it happens, Dallas wants to add a deck cap at I-30 and Lamar Street to help tie into the new convention center and another deck cap covering a redesigned I-30 between St. Paul Street and Harwood Street.
“Anything that connects South is a big deal to me. It’s a big deal to the city,” Johnson said.
Downtown Dallas Inc., which advocates for economic development and vibrancy in downtown and surrounding neighborhoods, has long supported the project.
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Evan Sheets, vice president of planning and policy with DDI, described potential city council action as an early but pivotal moment for the project.
“It was important for us to look at opportunities for large capital projects, such as the reconstruction of the freeway, as an opportunity to restitch those communities,” Sheets said. “These projects are really key opportunities that only happen once in a generation.”
The Dallas City Council is set to approve $41 million for both deck cap projects on Wednesday. This will allow for set-up work to happen so that when TXDOT rebuilds that portion of I-30, the infrastructure for a deck park will be in place.
Design and renderings of a deck park project between St. Paul and Harwood have not been completed.
The city did provide possible design concepts for a Lamar Street deck park as part of a 2023 update to the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center master plan.
The deck cap projects are designed to build on the success of Klyde Warren Park over Woodall Rodgers Freeway and the still-in-development Southern Gateway Park project near the Dallas Zoo over Interstate 35E.
“Anything you can do to cross 30, to connect to 700,000 people that have been underserved for years, that’s a big deal,” Johnson said.
