On Wednesday, City Council approved a roughly $1 million contract to hire Dallas engineering firm Gresham Smith to help better connect Oak Cliff to Halperin and the neighboring Dallas Zoo.
Visitors have enjoyed the park’s many fountains and other amenities, but safety concerns have arisen with the fast-moving service roads flanking it and some visitors darting across to reach the attraction. Chad West, a City Council representative for the Halperin area, said people are parking their cars mid-block, then crossing the service road.
“Having parked and walked across the access road, it’s harrowing,” West said. “There is really very minimal thought given to pedestrian crossings.”
Busy parents with strollers and kids are not going to circle the block to reach a crosswalk, West said. He noted the park is also surrounded by apartments with families, schools and a DART station.
“They’re going to get across as fast as they can,” West said. “And frankly, we need to compensate for that. We owe that to our pedestrians and our families who are going to access the park.”
The city is working toward a temporary solution, he said, but the approval of the contract marks the start of the project to bring permanent, visible and safe access points to the area. Projects like this involve engineering, design and conceptual work to understand the area’s needs before any possible construction.
The efforts to address mobility in the area have been in the works for years. Part of the funding was secured a few years ago as a $900,000 federal grant to address mobility around the park and zoo, documents show.
Documents show the effort will address the following spots:
Halperin follows Klyde Warren in Uptown as the city’s second deck park. The park that opened is the first half of an estimated $300 million project. Ultimately, it will cover the highway from South Ewing to South Marsalis avenues, forming a tunnel underneath.
This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.