Unique El  Paso Deck Park Project Takes Forward Step

An innovative approach to modern highway redevelopment may well see the building of a new deck park and plaza in El Paso.

The city is now the recipient of a $900,000 federal grant that will pay for the design of the park, which will span Interstate 10 in a downtown section.

The park will provide an open space link between downtown El Paso and the city’s historic Sunset Heights neighborhood, and will include both walking and bicycle trails.

The grant is coming through the U.S. Department of Transportation and was announced by Congressman Veronica Escobar. The funding, said Escobar, will “help our community move closer toward the goal of expanding our green spaces and creating a public gathering space for all El Pasoans.”

The park and plaza will more specifically run between the Yandell Drive Bridge and the North Campbell Street bridge.

Long in the talking stage, the project will be like the Klyde Warren Park, a 5.2-acre green space crossing a portion of the Woodall Rodgers Freeway in Dallas.

That park, built with a combination of public and private funds, was completed in the fall of 2012 and includes a performance stage as well as 6,000 square foot restaurant.

An increasing number of cities in recent years have built deck parks and plazas as a way of both improving unattractive and no longer used highway segments and promoting racial equality by connecting underserved neighborhoods with other city sections.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, such parks serve to reunite neighborhoods that were “splintered decades ago when new freeways were rammed through in the name of progress.”

​By  Garry Boulard

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