The Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation has now raised 75% of its goal to build a deck park over Interstate 35E near the Dallas Zoo. The park would cover an area of 35E currently being rebuilt in Oak Cliff.
"It will provide green space and swaths of trees in an area defined by masses of concrete," said Mayor Eric Johnson.
Ron Kirk, a former mayor and former U.S. Trade Representative, says the park will draw crowds to Oak Cliff similar to those who now use Klyde Warren Park over Woodall Rodgers Freeway downtown and Katy Trail.
"I think we're going to see people coming from all over the region," Kirk said.
Former Mayor Mike Rawlings co-chairs the Southern Gateway Alliance with Kirk. Rawlings says the additional green space in those other neighborhoods has sparked more residential and commercial development.
"The economic development that's going to come from this is going to be amazing," Rawlings said. "It works when you put green space in and draw people in."
Johnson says the city is expecting more interest in the southern part of the city, but the project also aims to unite parts of Oak Cliff that have been separated by a highway since the 1960s.
"This is not going to be some carbon copy of Klyde Warren," Johnson said. "This is going to be a park with a different purpose. This is all about neighborhoods, and it's about people."
The park is expected to cost $82 million. The Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation has now raised $62 million. The park should open by the end of 2023 or early 2024.
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