DALLAS — This article was originally published by our content partners at the Dallas Business Journal. You can read the original article here.
Transportation leaders anticipate it will take at least a decade to complete the $1.65 billion reconstruction of I-345 through downtown Dallas.
The Texas Department of Transportation on Oct. 16 updated Dallas City Council on the status of the project that aims to "trench" the roughly 2.8 miles of the elevated highway, from I-30 to Woodall Rogers Freeway. That will entail lowering the road below grade and creating new street overpasses above — removing a major physical barrier between downtown and Deep Ellum, although some had hoped for an even more dramatic transformation.
The redevelopment project is currently undergoing an environmental assessment. That's expected to be completed next spring, after which design work and then construction could begin.
But the highway project also still needs to be added to TxDOT's 10-year program for proposed state roadway improvements, a funding plan voted on by transportation commissioners every August, said Ceason Clemens, TxDOT district engineer for Dallas.
She estimated that an optimistic project timeline could call for at least five years to find the combination of financial sources to fund the project and a minimum of five years to complete the reconstruction.
The rebuild could open up 6.7 acres of land that TxDOT could sell to the city for redevelopment efforts and another 6.4 acres available for future decking over the highway.
TxDOT is coordinating with stakeholders such as Downtown Dallas Inc., Uptown Dallas Inc. and Baylor Scott & White Health and hosting public meetings to receive feedback on the highway plan. Revisions that have made following public comments include reconfiguring Cesar Chavez Boulevard, removing the Allen Street connection and adding a northbound exit ramp to Canton Street.
Dallas' Planning and Development Department is also in each of the stakeholder meetings and thinking through future land-use options, Clemens said.
Dallas City Council has pushed TxDOT to consider alternatives to the trenching option, resulting in a bit of tension with state transportation officials, the Dallas Morning News reported.
A $2 million federal grant that could allow the city to consider economic development opportunities with the current reconstruction plan will appear before the council in December, Assistant City Manager Dev Rastogi said.
The next public hearing on the rebuild, set for sometime this winter, will present an updated project timeline and a draft of the environmental assessment report. More than 180,000 vehicles drive on I-345 daily.
