The Texas Department of Transportation will host the first of two Open House meetings this week to update the public on its plans to rebuild I-345 in Dallas.
I-345 is a 1.4-mile stretch of elevated highway that connects Interstate 30 with Woodall Rodgers Freeway on the east side of Downtown Dallas.
Nearly 200,000 vehicles travel that stretch of highway every day, according to TxDOT figures.
After years of discussion and research, the plan to redo I-345 is to tear down the elevated bridges that divide Downtown from Deep Ellum and instead dig down below ground level to create a ‘below-grade trench’ for the highway.
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The Open House on Tuesday evening will go from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the St. Philip’s School and Community Center gymnasium at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Dallas.
The second public meeting will take place on Thursday, March 21 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church Gymnasium on 1819 N. Washington Avenue in Dallas.
Click here for more information on the meetings.
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One of the primary knocks on the elevated I-345 highway is that it has driven a wedge between Downtown and Deep Ellum since it was first opened in 1973, and the current thinking is that a below-grade trench will open things back up.
“This is an important project to make sure that we maintain accessibility at a time as our entire city grows and develops,” said Stephanie Keller Hudiburg, Executive Director of the Deep Ellum Foundation. “We are more connected than ever to the Arts District. We are more connected than ever to Fair Park, to Downtown. And this project enables our residents to better enjoy that connectivity, as well as our businesses.”
The estimated price tag for the I-345 tear down and rebuild starts at around $1 billion, according to TxDOT, and construction is set to begin at some point in either 2028 or 2029.
