Dallas Council Embraces New Trinity Parkway, Without Scrapping Toll Road

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DALLAS (CSBDFW.COM) - For years, the planned Trinity toll road has divided Dallas City Hall and residents.

At a specially called meeting Thursday, the city council embraced a new plan for the road within the Trinity River levees.

But in a 10-4 vote, the council also decided to continue moving forward with the toll road, now being reviewed by the U.S. Corps of Engineers.

The toll road project, previously approved by the city council, is a nine mile-long, six lane road that's designed to relieve traffic congestion in the Dallas canyon and connect state highways 183 and 175.

The newly proposed parkway, nicknamed the "Dream Team solution," calls for a meandering, slower speed, four-lane highway that will give people access to the big park the city is building within the Trinity River levees.

That plan won rave reviews from former city councilwoman Angela Hunt, a toll road critic.  "I think this is an incredible opportunity for us to re-imagine our relationship with the Trinity River.  We have for too long been divided over this issue. I think this is an opportunity for us to come together."

Dallas resident Marcus Wood though disagrees, and still favors the larger toll road.  "We need the toll road.  We need it now.  There should be no roadway design delays."

In the end, a majority of council members decided to continue with the toll road while it's still going through an environmental review by the Corps.

Councilwoman Vonciel Jones-Hill, a supporter of the toll road, announced "This plan does support the federal government going ahead with the environmental impact statement."

But the council's vote disappointed Bob Bullis, the president of the American Institute of Architects, a non-profit group in Dallas.

He's worked on the project for 15 years, and says "We think we need to walk away from the toll road and we need to go post haste to the Mayor's Dream Team solution."

Bullis says parks such as Klyde-Warren, and the one the proposed within the Trinity levees, "are what build cities, not roads."

No word yet when the Corps of Engineers will make a decision on the planned toll road.

The Federal Highway Administration has already approved the project.

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