Construction of the Highway Deck Plaza/Park, to be built above Interstate 10 in downtown El Paso as part of the planned highway expansion, would cost nearly $207 million, according to a new study.
The 8.5-acre plaza, smaller than originally planned, would stretch from the streets of Santa Fe to the streets of Kansas and provide space for parks, shops, restaurants, food trucks, other amenities and possibly a 35,000-square-foot gymnasium, said Tracy Yellin, director of the Downtown Deck Plaza Foundation.
The pavement construction would be done in conjunction with the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) planned $1.2 billion widening and reconstruction of a 6.1-mile (9.8 km) section of Interstate 10 from Executive Center Boulevard to Copia Street.
The cost estimates and proposed designs from the recently completed $1.35 million study are important because they will help figure out how to finance the project, said Yellin, board chair of the Paso del Norte Community Foundation, which created the Deck Plaza Foundation to help government agencies and private organizations develop the project.
Governments, donations can finance park
The idea is to obtain as much state and federal funding as possible and then fill in any funding gaps with a mix of local government funds and private funds from the Deck Plaza Foundation, Yellin said.
Joaquin Rodriguez, the city’s director of grant programs, said in an email that the El Paso City Council and other local elected officials will ultimately have to decide whether to move forward with the project by identifying local sources of funding in addition to possible state, federal and private funding.
The Texas Department of Transportation does not provide funding for highway deck spaces. Dallas has one, more are planned, and Houston and Austin have deck spaces in the planning stages, Yellin reported.
TxDOT will cover the cost of the retaining walls needed to support the deck, she said.
$1.35 million study proposes two phases
The estimated cost of $2,027 and initial designs of what the plaza/park might look like were announced at a public meeting on July 30 that was attended by more than 100 people, most of whom were enthusiastic about the proposed project, Rodriguez said.
The study was funded by a $900,000 federal grant and $450,000 in private funds raised by the Downtown Deck Plaza Foundation and was conducted by Santec, a global engineering and architecture firm based in Canada.
The study suggests the plaza deck could potentially be built in two phases. The first phase would extend from Santa Fe Street to Mesa Street and cost an estimated $105.3 million. The second phase, from Mesa Street to Kansas Street, would cost an estimated $101.5 million.
The focus of the proposed I-10 extension is the depressed section of the highway through downtown, from Campbell Street to Santa Fe Street. This includes several road bridges that will need to be demolished and rebuilt. The Deck Plaza would be built on part of this section.
Widening the depressed section of the highway will result in TxDOT buying up buildings in the area to demolish.
Successful Dallas Deck Park is a role model
The 12-year-old, 5.2-acre Klyde Warren Park deck in Dallas is a model for the El Paso project, Yellin said. It has spurred development in Downtown Dallas, she said.
The park is located above the eight-lane Woodall Rodgers Freeway (Spur 366) in downtown Dallas. It cost $112 million to build. It was funded with $56.7 million in state funds and $55.7 million in donations, according to the Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation, which manages the park.
The park will soon undergo a $100 million expansion, including $60 million for a pavilion, and was voted the fifth best urban park in the 2024 USA Today 10 Best Readers Choice Awards.
Phoenix has a deck park over I-10
When El Paso’s Highway Deck Plaza/Park is built, it won’t be the first over Interstate 10. The 32-acre Margaret T. Hance Park was built over the I-10 tunnel in downtown Phoenix more than 30 years ago.
A multi-phase, $100 million park revitalization project began in March 2020 and is being funded with state and private money, according to information on the City of Phoenix website.
More: Industrial developer begins work on 23-acre office park in West El Paso
What is the status of TxDOT’s plan?
The Texas Transportation Commission has approved $388 million in state and federal funds for the first phase of the proposed I-10 extension and is expected to approve another $112 million in funds at its Aug. 22 meeting, Jennifer Wright, a spokeswoman for the TxDOT office in El Paso, said in an email.
TxDOT expects to release the project’s final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in spring 2025.
Officials from the Texas Department of Transportation will present their recommended design for the project at the public hearing on the final environmental impact statement, Wright said.
According to a TxDOT project update released in May 2024, TxDOT officials expect to complete the land purchases required for the project between 2025 and 2026 and begin construction in 2025. Estimated completion is scheduled for 2031. Construction may begin before all land is acquired because the project can be divided into phases, the report said.
The proposed expansion faced opposition from El Paso County Commissioner David Stout and the Sunset Heights Neighborhood Association. The El Paso County District Court sent a letter to TxDOT in January 2023 as part of the agency’s environmental impact review process, asking it to consider two previous alternatives for the project. The City Council passed a resolution in March 2022 calling on TxDOT to consider alternative designs for the expansion.
The authority has held several public meetings to receive comments on several proposed designs. Authority officials appear to be working toward a design that would widen the highway and redesign the sunken section of the highway downtown where the deck park/plaza is planned.
Vic Kolenc can be reached at 915-546-6421; [email protected]; @vickolenc on twitternow known as X.
