The Texas Department of Transportation has awarded a contract to build a park on top of a below-grade connector roadway in downtown Dallas. Project financing includes $20 million from the city’s $1.2 billion general obligation bond program approved by voters in 2006.
Work on the $44.5 million contract from TxDOT will begin with an official ceremony on Friday, with completion scheduled for mid-2011. The park will include a children’s garden, pavilion and promenade.
The 5.2-acre park will cover eight lanes of the Woodall Rogers Freeway on the northern edge of downtown Dallas. It will connect the city’s Arts District — which includes an art museum, performance hall and opera house — to major residential and commercial developments in the uptown area.
Total cost of the bridge park is estimated at $77 million. The city and the state contributed $20 million each, along with federal stimulus funds totaling $16.7 million. Private donations will complete the financing.
The city expects to sell naming rights for the park and its major features.