Oak Cliff's Halperin Park Opens Over I-35E
- Halperin Park opened Saturday, May 9, above Interstate 35E in Oak Cliff, giving southern Dallas a new public deck park beside the Dallas Zoo. - The first phase cost part of a $300 million effort, opens roughly 3 acres now, and is planned to grow to about 5 acres. - It matters because I-35E split Oak Cliff decades ago, and the park is meant to physically reconnect streets, neighbors, and investment.
A deck park is a simple idea with huge stakes — put a park on top of a freeway, and you can turn a barrier back into a neighborhood connection. That is what Dallas just did in Oak Cliff. Halperin Park officially opened on Saturday, May 9, over Interstate 35E near the Dallas Zoo, after years of planning, fundraising, and construction. The point is not just prettier landscaping. It is to repair a part of southern Dallas that the highway helped break apart. ### What opened, exactly? Halperin Park is Dallas’ new deck park — basically a structural cap built over I-35E with public space on top. The site sits between Ewing and Marsalis avenues in Oak Cliff, next to the Dallas Zoo, and opened with a public ceremony and weekend programming. The park is run through a partnership that includes the Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation and Dallas Park and Recreation. (halperinpark.org) ### Why build a park over a highway? Because the highway was the problem. I-35E cut through Oak Cliff in the mid-20th century and split streets, homes, businesses, and community ties that had existed long before the freeway arrived. Halperin Park is meant to reverse a small but symbolic piece of that damage by reconnecting the street grid and creating a place where people can cross, gather, and linger instead of just driving through. (halperinpark.org) ### What is there right now? The first phase gives the neighborhood green space, a pavilion, an indoor activity area, and a splash pad. Different outlets describe the current footprint a little differently, but the basic picture is clear — the park is partially open now and not yet at full build-out. It is already operating as a daily public space, with opening weekend events built around families, performances, fitness classes, and community activities. (halperinpark.org) ### How big is the full project? This is where the numbers matter. The broader project is described as a roughly $300 million effort, and the fully built park is expected to span about 5 acres. D CEO says the first phase covers 2.8 acres, while CBS Texas described the initial open area as about 3 acres, with two more acres planned in phase two. That second phase is expected to push the park farther toward Marsalis and add features including a dog park. (halperinpark.org) ### Who paid for it? It took public money and private money — a classic Dallas public-private build. Axios says the deck over the highway used $7 million in city bond money and $40 million from the North Central Texas Council of Governments, while private fundraising covered more than $62 million in park amenities. The total project cost cited elsewhere is much higher because this kind of build includes the highway cap, design, engineering, and phased-out park development. (dmagazine.com) ### Why do people think it could change the area? Partly because Dallas has seen this movie before. Klyde Warren Park stitched together downtown and uptown and became a major development engine. Halperin Park is being talked about in that same frame, but with a sharper equity angle — not just boosting land values, but bringing long-missing investment and public space to southern Dallas. Project leaders have floated big numbers, including more than 2 million annual visitors and $1 billion in economic impact over five years. (dmagazine.com) ### What is the catch? A park can reconnect land faster than it reconnects wealth. New foot traffic, new attention, and new development can help a neighborhood, but they can also raise pressure on the people already living there. That is why so much of the project language centers on community-led design and equitable development — the real test is whether Oak Cliff residents feel the benefits first and keep them. (dmagazine.com) ### Bottom line? Halperin Park is a park, but it is also an argument — that infrastructure can repair damage instead of just causing it. Dallas opened the first piece this weekend. Now the harder part starts: proving the reconnection is social and economic, not just physical. (halperinpark.org) (dmagazine.com)
