Dallas City Hall Begins to Ponder a New Future for the I-345

A plan to bury a 1.4-mile stretch of Interstate 345 that bisects Downtown Dallas is back on the table in City Hall, according to an article by Robert Wilonsky.

Wilonsky notes that it's been awhile since the controversial proposal, detailed in a study published by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) in July 2016, was a talking point at the city level. But earlier this week, "a council committee tentatively approved looking at the land beneath the 43-year-old overpass — how much it's really worth, what you can really build there if the overpass is erased."

Wilonsky also describes the project that could potentially erase I-345 from the city. The proposal would "[sink] the freeway below grade and [deck] it, maybe with a park but more than likely with mixed-use and commercial developments that would restitch the city center with Deep Ellum and East Dallas. 

Wilonsky offers some opinions about the current state of I-345—let's just say he's ready for a change.

Both the city and the state have come a long way on the issue of what to do about the highway, as documented by reporters like Wilonsky and Dallas Morning News Architecture Critic Mark Lamster. Planetizen has also been tracking their work on this proposal over the years.