When La Comida Mexican Kitchen and Cocktails came to Oak Cliff from Addison three and a half years ago, business struggled.
Rebuilding the brand in a new neighborhood during a post-COVID lockdown world was an uphill battle Mario Urtecho and his brother Ivan were more than willing to take on.
"We love Oak Cliff," Urtecho said. "We wanted to make a difference in Oak Cliff, that's why we chose here."
La Comida has gained solid footing in the community and Urtecho said their lunch business has started to pick up. So when he heard about proposed construction to the Jefferson Boulevard and Houston Street viaducts — which connect Oak Cliff and downtown — he worried it would be a blow to his business.
The city of Dallas has worked for months on a plan to change traffic patterns for the viaducts to better accommodate the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center which is undergoing major renovations expected to be completed in 2029.
The Jefferson viaduct was originally planned to go underneath the renovated convention center, but city staff were asked to lower costs as the price tag for the expansion reached $3.5 billion.
The building height was lowered by two stories to save $500 million. Now the convention center’s first floor will be above ground level, at the same height as the Jefferson viaduct. Because the roadway can no longer go under the building, it will have to be rerouted.
La Comida's doors, located at the corner of Beckley Avenue and Zang Boulevard, face downtown Dallas.
The Houston viaduct brings a lunch rush from downtown during the week and customers who bike with their kids to the restaurant on the weekends. Urtecho uses the Jefferson viaduct to bring rice and beans for catering in downtown and takes Houston to come back to the restaurant.
“If they close it, my lunch business is gonna be [cut],” Urtecho said, making a cutting noise. “If I lose $1,000 a day in lunch business, that's almost like $30,000 a month. Not having lunch business, that tells me that in the first moment I was going to be out.”
The plan to address that route change is confusing to others, compared to the current straightforward roadway leading into downtown.
Houston would be a pedestrian greenway. Jefferson, the only viaduct of the two for vehicular traffic, would have a ramp down to Hotel Street going around the Convention Center to Reunion Boulevard and then to Young Street.
Engineering consultant group HNTB led the traffic data for the project. HNTB Vice President James Frye told council members that once construction is complete, the new route could increase travel time by two minutes in the morning.
However, that morning peak travel between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. could see as much as a ten minute increase in travel time during construction. That time was reduced by about 25% because Frye said they assume people will choose different routes because of congestion.
“Let me just say that it's standard practice, professional practice, during construction people will choose different routes,” Frye said. “It's major construction project, that's normal.”
A town hall was one of the first public engagement initiatives for the project and happened after the committee meeting earlier this month. City staff initially planned to start public engagement on the program after thoroughfare amendments were submitted.
Urtecho said he was unaware of the project until the day of the town hall.
"People don't like to eat when they see dust, a lot of noise," Urtecho said. "Three blocks from here still [is] going affect it."
He and other Oak Cliff and southern sector residents voiced concerns about connectivity to downtown at the town hall and on social media.
Council Member Paula Blackmon told staff that residents felt the proposal would disconnect them from the rest of the city and asked them to listen to their concerns.
"There is obvious real concern about this from people in the Southern part of our city," Blackmon said. "It's how they feel. They feel they're going to be cut off."
Council Member Chad West is not on the committee, but his District 1 would be impacted and he was present during the meeting. He said he hoped staff would find a compromise that did not "turn the back on Oak Cliff."
"Oftentimes in District 1 we see conflicts between our motorists, our cyclists, and our pedestrians, but in this scenario everybody hates it," West said. "Nobody's happy. We really need a better option for Oak Cliff."
The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed a motion during its May 19 meeting to return the convention center to its original height.
That item is expected to go in front of the full council.
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