The estimated costs of remodeling the decades-old Interstate Highway 345 that runs through downtown Dallas have increased over $500 million. That’s according to city and state transportation officials during Wednesday’s Dallas City Council meeting, though they did not specify what drove up the project's cost.
I-345 connects U.S. 75 with Interstate 45.
The council voted to approve a contentious plan to move the stretch of roadway underground last year. The plan is to “depress” the 2.8 miles of roadway and possibly build pedestrian deck caps above it.
The proposition drew fierce backlash from community members who said it could solidify Dallas’ dark history of racial divide. Built in 1973, the elevated highway divided historically Black Deep Ellum from Downtown Dallas, deepening segregation. Advocates say tearing it down and replacing it with surface streets would knit the two areas back together.
But Texas Department of Transportation officials told the council that it would only approve some of the options to replace the aging elevated freeway. Those don't include the surface streets option some have advocated.
District 1 Council Member Chad West, who has opposed the so-called "trench" plan, told KERA News that the project's increased price tag is yet another reason why the council should encourage a separate design and economic impact study.
“This is a once in a generation opportunity to take down a highway and re-stitch downtown with Deep Ellum,” West said. “We need to seize it.”
West has previously asked city staff to look into an independent study of different I-345 plans. But it was unclear if that had happened.
“I had hoped when we got to this point today that we had at least looked at some other studies,” West said to city and state officials during the meeting. “I take some responsibility for not pushing harder on that, but…this to me feels like we’re just going through the motions.”
State transportation officials reassured the council that they had gone through the proper steps in investigating the different plans.
“We looked at all alternatives and the impacts of all those alternatives,” TxDOT District Engineer Ceason Clemens said during the meeting. “We’re going to make this facility a lot better, a lot more inviting than what exists there today. We’re not going through the motions by any means.”
But staff also said it would be a challenge getting TxDOT approval for any other design proposals except for the current one — what officials call the “Refined Hybrid” plan.
TxDOT has previously said it would only fund certain design plans, but in their briefing to council, officials said they would not consider any other plan than what was voted on last year.
“Who at TxDOT made that decision?” West asked.
Clemons told the council that she had made the decision to veto other alternatives to the current plan.
During the meeting city officials told the council that there hasn’t been much conversation into finding funding sources for a different project design.
“We did consider this as part of the Reconnecting Communities Grant application,” Assistant City Manager Robert Perez said during the meeting. “That to date has been the only alternative, is federal grants.”
According to staff, applying for the grant would “be competing with the [North Central Texas Council of Government’s] applications” for other projects including Klyde Warren Park and the Interstate 30 remodel.
A push to reimagine I-345 as a boulevard — which proponents, including West, advocated for last year — was not one of those options.
City staff said during the meeting that it has not pursued any other funding sources for design elements that TxDOT will not pay for. At least one other alternative plan for the project exists but may not have played a role in the development of the plan.
“It has been a long time since I have reviewed it myself,” Department of Transportation Gus Khankrli said about the 2019 study West referenced. “It has been a while.”
TxDOT is scheduled to host two public information sessions in March about the project including discussions on environmental constraints, draft designs and the timeline of completing the highway overhaul.
And this won’t be the end of council discussions about the controversial plan.
“I plan to bring this item to [the Government Performance and Financial Management committee] in May 2024 to discuss the financial impact of the various plans to the city and the need for independent design…impact studies,” West told KERA.
Got a tip? Email Nathan Collins at ncollins@kera.org. You can follow Nathan on Twitter @nathannotforyou.
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