Revised Oak Cliff viaduct plan would end Jefferson traffic at Lamar Street

Dallas transportation officials have a new answer for how drivers from Oak Cliff will reach downtown once the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center is rebuilt. Many of the residents who heard it Thursday night were not persuaded.

At a community meeting Oct. 1 in the Hitt Auditorium at Methodist Dallas Medical Center, Transportation and Public Works Director Gus Khankarli and Convention and Event Services Director Rosa Fleming presented the latest concept for the Jefferson Boulevard and Houston Street viaducts, according to accounts in the Oak Cliff Advocate and CandysDirt.com.

The redesign is needed because the City Council chose to keep a lowered convention center design, which requires removing the elevated stretch of Market Street that Jefferson traffic now uses.

The new layout

Under the revised plan, northbound traffic coming off the Jefferson viaduct would run under a section of the rebuilt convention center and stop at Lamar Street. An earlier version would have looped Jefferson around the building as a two-way road and left the Houston Street viaduct to pedestrians, cyclists and the streetcar.

Now the Houston viaduct would also carry southbound car lanes alongside the streetcar and a bike and pedestrian lane. A car-free Houston viaduct, recommended in the Oak Farms Transportation Corridor Study, has not been funded. Khankarli said the new design "allows for a future conversion" if a later council decides to pay for it.

Fleming said staff spent July and August reworking the plan after hearing from residents over the summer. "We heard you, in short, and we understood what you were asking, and we accommodated that," she said, as quoted by the Advocate.

Four years of one lane each way

Much of the debate centered on construction, which staff expects to last about four years and to begin toward the end of 2026. During that time, drivers from Jefferson would be routed onto a connector by the Reunion parking garage and over to the Houston viaduct, which would temporarily carry traffic both ways, with one lane in each direction for a stretch.

Staff said added turn lanes at Young Street, new signals and dynamic lane assignments are meant to keep vehicles moving.

Khankarli cited an earlier study estimating about five minutes of added delay and said traffic models will be updated as the design develops. Several attendees questioned how traffic that now has five lanes across the viaducts would fit. Brett Shipp, a media strategist who has pushed to keep the current routes, predicted "a disaster for traffic trying to get into downtown," CandysDirt reported.

Residents also asked for bilingual meetings and videos showing how the routes would work. Fleming said more meetings, including bilingual sessions, will follow before a permanent configuration is set.

Council Member Chad West, whose District 1 includes the area, told CandysDirt he does not yet support the plan. "I'm not there yet," he said, adding that the city needs a path that works for the neighborhood and lets the convention center succeed.

Sources

oakcliff.advocatemag.com

candysdirt.com