The plans for the Jefferson and Houston viaducts had been panned by residents and Council members alike
DALLAS — Dallas City Council members so disliked the city’s plan to change two bridges near downtown that they recommended changes to the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center renovations that would keep existing traffic flows, but could cost hundreds of millions of dollars and further delay the opening of the convention center project.
Neighbors in Oak Cliff voiced strong opposition to the plans to change how traffic flows over the Jefferson and Houston Street viaducts, saying they feared it would cut off the connection from their neighborhood to Downtown Dallas.
City staff proposed a fix at a community meeting on Friday that would still alter traffic flows, but allow drivers to connect to Downtown along the bridges. But Council members and community members at the meeting expressed opposition.
At a special-called meeting of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Council members overruled staff’s concerns and voted to recommend the full City Council order the multi-billion dollar convention center project revert to an earlier design that allowed Jefferson Street to connect to Downtown, where it currently does.
That would require raising the height of the convention center to its previously planned level. Earlier this year, staff recommended decreasing the height of the building to save $500 million. They warned Tuesday that increasing it could incur that cost again — and potentially put the convention center project over budget and further behind schedule.
“You’re adding a year to the project, we’ll lose all the clients from 2030,” said Dallas Director of Convention and Event Services Rosa Fleming.
Yet council members felt so strongly that they voted against an option to allow staff to come back to the committee with new ideas in two weeks. Instead, the proposal to increase the building’s height and allow the existing connectivity will move to the full City Council for a vote in the coming weeks.