Photo by Victoria Hernandez.
Residents gathered at the Methodist Dallas Medical Center’s Hitt Auditorium Thursday night for the latest updates regarding the Jefferson and Houston viaducts.
City staff presented a new proposed rerouting of the viaducts’ Downtown access following the feedback received from the community and the Dallas City Council decision to keep the lowered redesign of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, which requires the removal of the elevated portion of Market Street.
Rosa Fleming, director of convention and event services, said that this proposed design is a response to what was heard from the community over the summer, and that staff took July and August to come up with this new design before bringing an update back to residents.
“So this is more for the community and responding to the questions; we heard you, in short, and we understood what you were asking, and we accommodated that,” Fleming said.
A conceptual roadway plan for the Houston and Jefferson viaducts on display at a community meeting held Thursday, Oct. 1. Photo by Victoria Hernandez.
Rather than rerouting the Jefferson Boulevard Viaduct around the lowered convention center with two-way traffic as previously presented, this proposal reroutes traffic heading north from the Jefferson Viaduct to run under the convention center and end at Lamar Street. The Houston Street Viaduct would no longer be reserved as pedestrian- and public transit-focused, which aligns with the Oak Farms Transportation Corridor Study, but instead would include lanes of southbound traffic in addition to the streetcar and pedestrian/bike lane.
The Oak Farms study has not received funding by city officials, but Transportation and Public Works Director Gus Khankarli added that this proposed concept “allows for a future conversion” of a car-free Houston Street Viaduct if the council decided to fund that plan.
“What we’re saying here is we’re building something that, if that study is ever implemented, whatever that time frame is, it can be done,” Khankarli said.
During the construction phase, traffic from Jefferson would be rerouted via a north connector which runs by the Reunion parking garage, bringing northbound traffic to the Houston Street viaduct heading toward Young Street. The pedestrian and bicycle traffic would be detoured to the northern entrance of the garage to Hotel Street.
This change during construction would reduce traffic to one lane northbound and one lane southbound. Khankarli said the temporary configuration is expected to last approximately four years, with a projection to start construction toward the end of 2026.
Meeting attendees raised concerns about the impact that these changes will have on traffic. Khankarli said that an earlier traffic study estimated about a five-minute delay during the construction phase for vehicular traffic.
He said that traffic studies will also be done for current and future conditions.
“So all the traffic models will be updated … because this is the initial concept, and we will be developing the traffic study model,” Khankarli said.
There were also concerns raised about the lack of communication to the community. One resident suggested a video that shows the path traffic would take and the need for information available for the Latino community, such as Spanish translation.
Fleming said that Thursday evening was just the first community meeting.
“There’s going to be several,” she said. “There’s going to be bilingual meetings as well.”
