Southern Gateway Park Plan Pleases Dallas Leaders

Dallas leaders Thursday toured the location for a second Dallas deck park over a busy freeway and voiced strong support for the project.

Bridge construction is finished to support the Southern Gateway Park over I-35E near the Dallas Zoo.  Park construction will begin soon.

Mayor Eric Johnson said he is pleased with the plans.

“We literally are decking over a freeway that once was a barrier and turned it into an opportunity. That's big-time energy. That's what we're about,” Johnson said.

The park plans include a walkway to reconnect 12^th Street that was severed by the original freeway construction generations ago.

“We worked a lot on community engagement and input to make sure we have a design that people really wanted,” Southern Gateway Green Foundation president April Allen said.

The nearby 10^th Street Historic Freedman’s neighborhood was a source of opposition at first for fear it would be wiped out with new development around the park.

Dallas City Council Member Carolyn King Arnold initially called it a ‘wreck park.’ But she was among the supporters Thursday because she said the city has invested repair money to save old houses and provided other neighborhood improvements to preserve that community, too.

“We've got to look at this particular project as a bright light, a catalyst, to make sure that we now have, that we're moving toward equity,” she said.

Besides the site on the other side of the park, one property owner has big plans for new development. 

Chad West, the councilman representing that side of the project, wants affordable new housing included in the new development.

“We've got to be very thoughtful about how we keep people in the neighborhoods who want to stay here. And, a piece of that is making sure they can afford the housing that is going to inevitably come up around this area,” West said.

The total cost for this phase of the park is $82 million. The foundation is still seeking donations for the final $15 million in finishing touches.

Johnson said the money is well spent.

“It’s absolutely going to create job opportunities, all kinds of opportunities for new retail, residential, you name it. It's going to be fantastic,” he said. "It's creating a signature entrance to the city from the south."

A second phase of the Southern Gateway Park would double the space over I-35E. Funding is not lined up yet.

The total reconstruction of I-35E through that section of Dallas Oak Cliff, known as the Southern Gateway Project, is nearly finished after years of work.

The first Dallas park over a freeway is the very popular Klyde Warren Park over Woodall Rodgers Freeway between Uptown and Downtown Dallas.