As more people continue to flock to North Texas, demand is growing for more walkable neighborhoods and green space.
One initiative to meet that demand is the Loop, a 50-mile trail around the center of Dallas that’s slated to be finished by 2027.
Mark Meyer is a landscape architect with TBG Partners, one of the designers of a section of the Loop.
He spoke with KERA’s Growth and Infrastructure reporter Pablo Arauz Peña about the project and the effort to make Dallas a more mobile place to live.
What projects has TBG partners worked on in Dallas that are part of the effort to make the city more walkable?
When you think about Dallas, you either think about Dallas, the city, or Dallas, the region, and they're sort of one in the same. But the city of Dallas itself, one of the things that we've been very active in over the last couple years is everything happening in the Victory District. You know, not only from many of the buildings that have gone down there, but the new park that is the connection between the DART stop and the American Airlines Center, and just recently, the new ... overlook that the Circuit Trail Conservancy is doing and that is a really interesting effort to bring the Katy Trail down the street level with the Hi Line Connector.
So, what role does the firm play in the Loop Dallas?
It actually goes back to the project we were just talking about, which is the overlook that is being done at the [Hi Line] connection, that Katy Trail and Hi Line right there. So we're the primary designer of that intervention. That's happening. One of the things that's really interesting is, the Loop organization really wants this to be a signature piece that helps them really show their vision of connecting Dallas to Dallas.
Who is the Loop geared towards? Recreationalists, or commuters? Is there a specific target group that you're going for?
With the Loop itself, when it's complete, there'll be 50 miles of trail and that really brings in two users. One is the recreational user, people that are running, people that are biking, but also there's this idea of mobility and I think when we talk about Dallas being a much more walkable city, this idea of mobility is extremely important. That means that potentially you get on your bike if you live somewhere and you could actually ride your bike to your office or to a grocery store, and Dallas wasn't planned that way, unfortunately. So what we're having to do with our city [is] we're, we're having to rebuild it in a way that is more walkable, and I think the question is, what does walkability mean to the city of Dallas?
Where does Dallas have room to improve in terms of walkability and green spaces?
Everywhere. It's all because of the car. Unfortunately, if you look at Dallas, the car separates us and it separates us from highways, from connectors to arterials, to roads. But one of the things that Dallas, and many Southern cities did, they have what's called Euclidean zoning, and I don't know if you've ever heard of that, but what that is, that's zoning that separates uses. So if you live in a house, you only live around homes and if you have retail, you only have retail around you and what that zoning then doesn't allow people to walk from one to the other.
So what can individual residents do to join the effort to make Dallas a more walkable and green place to live?
First, go out and walk our trails. Go to our parks, you know, there's nothing more than having a good appreciation for what we have, because I will say Dallas has very, very beautiful parks in many, many places of the Dallas area, we also have an unbelievable trail system, you know.
So I think, have a recognition for that, get involved in a local group. You know, that could be the Friends of — whatever it is — it could be a bicycle group, it could be a running group, what we find is many of those bicycle groups are huge advocates of helping making our city more walkable, more bikable in those areas. So I think, you know, this grassroot approach is a very, very good approach. If you've never done it before, it's a very sort of easy way in to learn, experience and really have a new group of friends.
Got a tip? Email Pablo Arauz Peña at parauzpena@kera.org
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