After a 2016 Texas Department of Transportation plan put forward a vision for a more walkable and dense city, TxDOT is still looking to expand I-30, a project that contradicts many of the forward-thinking ideas in that plan.
In a piece for D Magazine, Peter Simek argues that Dallas is a victim of overbuilt freeways that stratified the city and trapped many of its citizens in traffic. Simek writes, "Engineers at the agency have designed an I-30 expansion that doubles down on the same city-destroying mistakes of the past." In particular, the added capacity would pull people out of the city center and East Dallas. "The added or expanded frontage roads, widened overpasses, exit ramps, and surface streets will increase the speed of traffic through the neighborhoods adjacent to the highway," Simek writes.
Simek posits that the whole project is out of step with the internal goals of TxDOT. A 2016 plan called CityMAP outlined ways to make the city denser and more walkable. "If this newly engineered I-30 were constructed, many of the potential benefits laid out by the CityMAP study would be squandered," Simek writes.
FULL STORY: TxDOT’s Secret Plan to Destroy Downtown Dallas
Oregon Passes Exemption to Urban Growth Boundary
Cities have a one-time chance to acquire new land for development in a bid to increase housing supply and affordability.
Where Urban Design Is Headed in 2024
A forecast of likely trends in urban design and architecture.
Savannah: A City of Planning Contrasts
From a human-scales, plaza-anchored grid to suburban sprawl, the oldest planned city in the United States has seen wildly different development patterns.
Washington Tribes Receive Resilience Funding
The 28 grants support projects including relocation efforts as coastal communities face the growing impacts of climate change.
Adaptive Reuse Bills Introduced in California Assembly
The legislation would expand eligibility for economic incentives and let cities loosen regulations to allow for more building conversions.
LA's Top Parks, Ranked
TimeOut just released its list of the top 26 parks in the L.A. area, which is home to some of the best green spaces around.
City of Rochester
Boston Harbor Now
City of Bellevue
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.