Gaston Avenue at Richmond Avenue. Photo by Renee Umsted.
The Dallas Department of Transportation is expected to meet with the Gaston Avenue Corridor Study steering committee by the fall before finalizing the plan for corridor improvements.
Transportation staff were initially scheduled to meet with the steering committee this summer and finalize the plan by the fall. The steering committee is made of City Council-appointed representatives from District 2, District 9 and District 14.
Though the recommendations have been finalized, staff are now in discussions with property owners along Gaston Avenue who have concerns about the potential effects of improvements, including whether sidewalks would encroach on their property or how adding or removing lanes would affect traffic patterns, a spokesperson for the City of Dallas said.
Discussions with property owners and other departments such as Dallas Fire-Rescue are ongoing to come up with solutions to concerns. Transportation staff are also conducting site visits.
Once staff complete a draft of an implementation plan of prioritized improvements, the public will have an opportunity to provide input on it.
There have been two rounds of public input opportunities related to this corridor study, which is meant to provide recommendations for traffic calming and pedestrian facility improvements along Gaston Avenue from Washington Avenue to the Gaston-Garland-Grand intersection. A virtual meeting to discuss existing conditions and desired improvements was held in June 2021, and an in-person meeting was held in July 2022 to discuss recommendations for potential improvements.
In the first public engagement period, many respondents said they wanted safer intersections, less speeding and wider sidewalks. A full summary of the survey results is available here.
While attendees of the July 2022 meeting suggested different solutions to the issues along Gaston Avenue, many agreed that speeding is a problem.
Following that meeting, the City of Dallas released an online survey to gather additional input. Results from the survey, which asked stakeholders about proposed improvements at various intersections on Gaston Avenue, are available here.
