The first phase of Halperin Park, a new green space spanning Interstate 35E in Oak Cliff, Dallas, officially opened last month, marking a significant step toward reconnecting neighborhoods long divided by the highway. This initial 3-acre section, situated near the Dallas Zoo, aims to bridge predominantly Black communities east of the interstate—most notably the historic Tenth Street district—with the largely white, more affluent neighborhoods to the west that were separated by the highway's construction in the late 1950s.

The project’s first phase came with a price tag of $112 million, including $15 million contributed by the city. Plans are underway for a second phase to expand the park by an additional 2.4 acres to the south at an estimated cost of $170 million, with about $90 million already secured from federal and state sources. This expansion is expected to be completed in the early 2030s, with projections indicating the park could attract as many as one million visitors annually.

Designed by landscape architecture firm SWA in partnership with the Dallas-based architecture company HKS, Halperin Park shares design principles with Dallas’s well-known Klyde Warren Park. The park integrates multiple amenities into a slim corridor, including an amphitheater, a performance bandshell, a multipurpose building, a playground, a promenade, a “sky bridge,” water features, and significant landscaping. These facilities are supplemented by a robust schedule of programming aimed at promoting community engagement. Activities such as salsa lessons, reading groups, yoga, Pilates, and children's art classes have already been held in the park.

One of the park’s most striking features is the bandshell, notable for its curved roof constructed from glulam—a laminated timber developed in Germany and assembled on-site. Despite its architectural appeal, the structure includes exposed sprinkler system piping, a fire suppression addition mandated by city authorities, which some involved have criticized as unnecessary for an open-air venue.

Opposite the bandshell is a curving, glass-fronted multipurpose building topped by a rooftop terrace offering views toward downtown Dallas. Covering around 6,000 square feet, the building’s flexible interior is intended to host various events and possibly a café in the future. It is also the first public building in Dallas constructed using mass timber, a choice driven by sustainability goals and structural requirements for building a park over a suspended deck.

Additional design elements include an artificial escarpment made of precast concrete panels, inspired by the natural Oak Cliff cliffs, which encloses the playground area for child safety. A promenade running diagonally through the park follows the original path of Twelfth Street, disrupting the highway’s division and planned to feature a “walk of fame” honoring notable Oak Cliff residents, with the first names to be unveiled in the fall.

While the park represents a symbolic and physical healing of a 70-year-old urban divide, challenges remain. Pedestrian access to Halperin Park is limited, as the surrounding high-speed roads impede safe entry, leaving the park somewhat isolated. The park’s “sky bridge” intended to connect visitors to the Dallas Zoo is incomplete, ending abruptly without the corresponding structure on the zoo side.

The lack of safe crosswalks into the park has drawn significant concern. Although the park foundation secured $750,000 from a tax increment financing district in 2024 to fund a crosswalk, the city has not yet implemented it, and a promised temporary solution is also pending.

Despite these obstacles, the park has gained national attention as a model for reconnecting urban neighborhoods divided by infrastructure projects. April Allen, director of the Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation—which oversees the park’s development and maintenance—has received inquiries from cities including Atlanta, Austin, El Paso, and St. Paul about how the project was realized.

Dallas is considering similar deck park initiatives over other highways, such as I-30E and a future trench project at I-345. However, there has been little dialogue between Halperin Park’s organizers and city officials pursuing these plans, highlighting continuing challenges in coordinating urban renewal efforts.

Halperin Park’s opening marks a hopeful, if incomplete, step toward reclaiming and revitalizing communities fragmented by past infrastructure decisions but underscores the continued need for coordinated city action to fully realize its potential.