ICYMI: Crockett, Allred Announce $80,000,000 Investment to Connect Dallas Neighborhoods through Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
DALLAS — Yesterday, the Dallas Morning News reported that neighborhoods along Interstate-30, Southern Gateway Park, Klyde Warren Park, and other North Texas projects will receive a combined $80 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation thanks to grants to reconnect communities in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), has been a steadfast supporter of neighborhood infrastructure funding, and wrote to the Department of Transportation advocating for the agency to select the City of Dallas as recipient for this transformational grant.
"Decades of redlining and a legacy of discriminatory infrastructure policy have left majority Black and Brown districts like mine divided and disconnected by noisy, disruptive highways. Majority-minority neighborhoods like The Cedars and Oak Cliff are criss-crossed by highways that sever our communities and isolate our residents, with little economic benefit to show for the destruction," said Rep. Crockett. "I fought to bring this $80 million grant home to the people of North Texas to help right this historical wrong, connecting our neighborhoods and communities through accessible walkways and green spaces. This is a true investment in the people of Dallas, and it will pay big dividends through increased economic growth in one of the fastest-growing cities in the country."
“This is great news for Oak Cliff and Dallas. I am so proud of the work we’ve done over the years to support this project and secure federal funding,” said Rep. Allred. “The Southern Gateway Park is more than just a park, it is about connecting communities back together and spurring economic growth in the process.”
More from the Dallas Morning News:
Four pedestrian zones aimed at reuniting Dallas neighborhoods divided by highways are a step closer to reality thanks to $80 million in federal grant awards announced Wednesday.
The projects include:
Structures for three pedestrian caps — like parks constructed over highways — at Interstate 30 near the Dallas Farmers Market that will reconnect the Cedars neighborhood to downtown. The project [which will receive $20 million], will align with the timing of the Texas Department of Transportation’s reconstruction of I-30 and “it is critical that the base structures be constructed now into the roadway project to avoid the inefficiency of taxpayers paying twice to retrofit later,” according to grant documents.
The second phase of Klyde Warren Park will extend an existing pedestrian deck park farther south to create additional connections. The expansion [which will receive $20 million] will extend the park, which currently connects Uptown with downtown over Woodall Rodgers freeway, 1.7 miles west.
The second phase of Southern Gateway Park [which will receive $25 Million] will finish an initial pedestrian crossing to complete the plaza, stretching from Lancaster Avenue to Marsalis Avenue over Interstate 35E near the Dallas Zoo. The deck for the first phase from Ewing Avenue to Lancaster has already been built, though the construction of amenities is not complete.
An inverted pedestrian deck at State Highway 5 in McKinney [which will receive $15 million] will include the construction of a bridge within the corridor and provide pedestrian access in the form of a below-bridge plaza.
The North Texas Council of Governments, the regional transportation planning council heading up the projects, applied for the funds. The money is a slice of the more than $3 billion earmarked for similar projects through discretionary grant programs backed by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.
Read the full story in the Dallas Morning News here: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/transportation/2024/03/14/dallas-neighborhoods-divided-by-highways-get-80-million/