Dallas City Council approves lowering new convention center height, hindering Oak Cliff access to downtown

DALLAS - The Dallas City Council-approved height of a new convention center could cause traffic problems for Oak Cliff residents going to Downtown Dallas.

What we know:

Dallas City Council members voted 9-6 to keep the convention center height lower than initially planned for.

That means the Houston Street and Jefferson Street viaducts would no longer be able to run through the convention center, interrupting traffic coming in and out of Downtown Dallas from the Oak Cliff area.

The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee requested earlier in the week that the design return to the original plans so the Jefferson and Houston viaducts remain connected to downtown Dallas.

Under the original plan, the expanded convention center was designed to be tall enough for traffic to flow continuously underneath the building. However, after efforts to cut $500 million in costs, the building's plans were lowered by two stories.

In March, city staff proposed a plan to divert traffic from Jefferson Street onto the Houston Street viaduct due to the lowered design. Currently, Houston Street runs southbound over the Trinity River, and Jefferson Boulevard runs northbound into downtown.

Under the city's latest proposal, Houston Street would be reduced to just one lane in each direction. Jefferson Boulevard would be configured to have two lanes in each direction but would dead-end into the Reunion parking garage, south of the convention center. The city would eventually build a flyover ramp to connect it to Houston Street.

Financial warnings vs. neighborhood impact

By the numbers:

The Dallas City Manager said the proposed redesign will cost $597 million and delay the convention center construction by a year.

She said that delay would cause more than $271 million in lost clients and another $1.4 million a month in future losses.

What they're saying:

Many residents objected to the outcome of the vote.

"I'm here on behalf of the 60,000 workers whose livelihoods depend on what you decide here today," Craig Davis, the Visit Dallas President, said at today's City Council meeting.

"Last week, we notified over 40 convention organizers that we could not accommodate them in 2030 as originally promised. That is nearly 2 billion in spending leaving the city."

"Should the city that just lost its signature downtown retailer, its signature downtown employer both of its downtown sports teams, while cities across our regions are spending hundreds of millions to draw people into their downtowns, run around and make it more difficult for its own residents to reach our core?" William Joy, the President of the Bishop Arts Neighborhood Association, said.

City Council members weighed in on the topic before the vote.

"I cannot support returning the convention center to its original height. Doing so would require redesign and additional review which would delay construction and increase cost, and result in lost economic activity and hotel tax," Dallas City Councilwoman Kathy Stewart said.

"We shouldn’t be cutting off access, we should improve it. We will make a decision that cannot be undone," Dallas City Councilman Chad West said.

What we don't know:

It's unclear what the redesign of the Houston and Jefferson viaducts will look like, or if it will need to go back to city council for approval.