The Special Called Transportation and Infrastructure Committee meeting held Tuesday, May 19 at Dallas City Hall. Photo by Victoria Hernandez.

The Dallas City Council Transportation and Infrastructure Committee voted on Tuesday to recommend another design change to the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.

In a 4-2 vote of the committee members at the special-called meeting, the original convention center design will return to the full council to recommend raising the height to avoid the Jefferson Viaduct connection to Downtown from Oak Cliff.  A redesign was requested by the council to find cost savings earlier this year, with the city staff’s solution to lower the convention center height and remove part of the Jefferson Viaduct.

The Tuesday meeting followed a Friday community meeting held jointly by District 1 Council member Chad West and District 4 Council member Maxie Johnson at the Eloise Lundy Recreation Center, where residents expressed concern over the changes that could be made to the vital entry point to Downtown.

“As you heard firsthand from my neighbors, what staff has proposed for the 2029 plan after the new convention center opens up is simply not good enough for Oak Cliff … to put it simply, the options that have been presented are failing Oak Cliff,” West said during the Tuesday meeting.

Potential route changes were updated for the committee presentation, keeping the connector from Jefferson to Houston with both viaducts serving as two-way traffic, but with an additional ramp upon the opening of the convention center. The ramp was included for traffic to flow from Jefferson into the “mobility hub” under the lowered version of the convention center. 

Screenshot of the future connectivity slide from the Tuesday presentation. Courtesy of the City of Dallas.

Future connectivity for the lowered convention center design included a new bridge over the Union Pacific Railroad that would take Jefferson Viaduct traffic onto Houston Street, in addition to the connector option to the Houston Viaduct.

Following the vote, city staff will return to the committee in two weeks with new proposals for the building’s raised design that could keep the Oak Cliff to Downtown connectivity intact.