Do you have a great idea about how to improve Uptown?
The City of Dallas is currently taking input for the 2024 Capital Bond Program. A Bond Program is a voter issued debt that will be used to fund improvements to the City’s infrastructure such as alleys, streets, sidewalks, parks, drainage, and facilities. Initial financial capacity modeling assumes a 2024 Capital Bond Program of approximately $1 Billion. Uptown Dallas Inc. completed a detailed needs assessment in 2019 for Uptown and have worked in partnership with the city and private sector to address those needs and implement new projects. Several of the projects identified will be presented as potential projects to be included. These projects were vetted and discussed with UDI leadership and determined to be proposed for inclusion in the 2024 Bond Program.
These programs include (and not listed in any particular order):
- Design and Implementation of Pocket Parks at McKinney/Allen and Carlisle/Allen as part of the Two-Way Reversion Project. The Two-Way Reversion Project will create the framework for the pocket parks where it will leave new curblines, tree lawns, and sidewalks, but will leave the rest of the spaces as sod. Adding design and implementation for these two spaces at the heart of Uptown will bring them to life as intended. These projects will create people space where there currently is only pavement and will provide a new ‘heart’ to the neighborhood.
- CityPlace Square Site Acquisition and Creation of a New Square. This project proposes to utilize 2024 bond funds to acquire roughly 0.5 acre of land in the vicinity of CityPlace to provide much needed public space, in a highly dense area of Uptown.
- Bowen Street is a very low traffic corridor and is on the City of Dallas’s Thoroughfare Plan currently as a four-lane road. Based on current and projected traffic loads, it should only have two travel lanes, one in each direction, thus allowing extra space to be repurposed based on local need and context like expanded sidewalks, street trees, and bulb-outs to improve visibility and shorten pedestrian crossing distances.
- Lemmon Avenue Couplet Protected Bike Lanes and Improved Katy Trail Access. The Lemmon Avenue Couplet carries a significant amount of traffic through the neighborhood and by doing so is also a huge divider. Because of the amount of traffic it carries, it may be difficult to significantly reduce or calm this traffic. However, it could become more of a complete street and improve bicycle and pedestrian connections between the CityPlace DART Station, West Village, the Katy Trail, and Turtle Creek by converting one travel lane in each direction to a protected bike lane. The couplet is currently on the City’s Thoroughfare Plan as a six lane arterial, but through Uptown the one-way roads flare out to four lanes apiece, potentially allowing for changes without having to undergo a lengthy public process.
- Howell and Oak Grove Shared Space Streets. While this project would entirely be within the public right-of-way, it is included as a public space as this concept proposes to covert these streets into linear plazas mixing pedestrian, bike, and vehicular traffic in a calm, attractive, and safe environment. These are two potentially much more important streets than they are currently as they both terminate in the McKinney/Allen Pocket Park (to be created as part of the Two-Way Reversion Project). Furthermore, Howell has potential to be a much more significant retail street and Oak Grove would serve as the most direct link from the center of Uptown to the CityPlace DART Station.
- Pedestrian Lighting Throughout the Neighborhood. There are a significant number of areas throughout the district lacking consistent pedestrian lighting. This project would propose creating an audit for all street and pedestrian lights that currently exist, that need repair, and where they are missing to ensure consistent pedestrian and street lighting throughout the district.
RELATED RESOURCES
To complete the City of Dallas Capital Bond Program Community Input Survey, CLICK HERE.
To learn more about the bond program and upcoming public meetings, CLICK HERE.
To learn more about the programs being supported by UDI, email Jamee Jolly at jamee@uptowndallas.net.
