'The great gateway to downtown'
Group hopes to raise millions for park over Woodall Rodgers
Dallas Morning News, The (TX)
February 25, 2005
Author: DAVE LEVINTHAL; Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 2

Downtown Dallas needs a lifeline, and it comes in the form of a park atop a highway.
So says a coalition of business leaders and government officials, which announced intentions Thursday to raise tens of millions of dollars to fund several blocks of greenspace that would soar over Woodall Rodgers Freeway and connect Uptown to downtown. Today, downtown is encircled by high-volume highways.

Organizers said they want to break ground by 2007 on the project, which would cap Woodall Rodgers Freeway between Pearl and Akard streets. Completion is projected by 2010.

And while they wouldn't estimate the project's cost, Mayor Laura Miller said she has seen figures ranging from $45 million to $60 million.

Creating such a park has long been a goal of city officials, but until Thursday, fund-raising efforts hadn't coalesced.

"It will be the great gateway to downtown, one that we need in the worst way," said Jody Grant, chairman of Texas Capital Bank, who will donate $1 million of his own money. "We hope this effort will appeal to a major donor. There are lots of naming opportunities."

His bank also will donate $1 million, as will The Real Estate Council Foundation. Crescent Real Estate Equities announced a $500,000 donation.

"We will take Uptown and downtown and make them one," Ms. Miller said. "The success ... will come down to the generosity of the people of our city."

It's unclear how that generosity will translate monetarily beyond Thursday's initial donations.

Funding from governmental entities, at local, state and federal levels, is largely unsolicited, although Ms. Miller said the state should help pay some of the costs. Mr. Grant said he envisions private interests donating a third of the funding, with public entities providing the other two-thirds.

That's news to the Texas Department of Transportation, which administers the freeway.

Dallas region spokesman Mark Ball said his department didn't learn of the fund-raising campaign until two days ago and hasn't discussed the matter with campaign leaders. It's unknown what the Transportation Department's role would be, he said.

"We learned about the details from the press release they sent out - we haven't been contacted about it," Mr. Ball said. "If they come to us, we will work with them. It's going to be costly, though. The structures along the freeway weren't built for something like this."

Today, the eight-lane freeway dips into a canyonlike stretch near the Arts District, with several narrow concrete bridges connecting Uptown to downtown. Where there are no bridges, motorists see the sky above, and street-level pedestrians see a large void.

With the proposed park in place, motorists would drive through a veritable tunnel, beneath a deck of grass, trees, fields and structures.

Beyond those basics, "the park's design is 100 percent negotiable," Ms. Miller said. And she said she's not convinced that the 2007 groundbreaking date is firm.

E-mail dlevinthal@dallasnews.com
  Caption:
PHOTO(S): (CHRIS MORRIS/Staff Artist) An artist's conception of the park, looking toward the southwest, shows a deck of grass, trees and fields, which would rise above a veritable tunnel for motorists on Woodall Rodgers. MAP(S): (CHRIS MORRIS/Staff Artsit) Site of proposed park
Edition:  SECOND
Section:  METRO
Page:  1B
Copyright 2005 The Dallas Morning News
Record Number:  1600007250