Members of the Dallas City Council on Monday asked the city manager to study whether tearing down I-345 downtown will help improve the area.
The highway that has connected parts of north and south Dallas has also divided the city's center from Deep Ellum and East Dallas.
Proponents of its removal have been saying for years that it would create a more walkable downtown and boost the area's economy.
“It has really created a barrier that is both a physical and a psychological barrier between the two sections of the core of Dallas and that I think has been damaging," said council member Paul Ridley, who represents district 14, through which the highway partially runs.
Ridley and other council members want the city manager to study options on what to do to replace the highway.
Those three options vary in how it would change travel in the area — a tunneled option known as the “depressed alternative,” an avenue or removal — or a combination, called the hybrid option.
The feasibility study, which would be conducted by an independent consultant, differs from a report by the Texas Department of Transportation that came out last year.
That report ultimately recommended the hybrid option.
District 1 council member Chad West said the city's study would consider more stakeholders.
"There were no economists, there were no housing experts to talk about how the reclaimed land, if we go with a boulevard option could be used for housing or to be used for economic development," West said.
Both council members agreed that the highway is past its prime and needs to be removed before its expiration date.
"I think that it should be torn down,” Ridley said. “It's nearing the end of its functional life in the next 20 years and for this kind of a major project we need to plan for in advance for what we're going to do to replace it.”
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