Photo of Jefferson Boulevard by Rachel Stone
A task force that formed in 2021 to address the need for traffic calming on Jefferson Boulevard has split into two groups, Dallas City Councilman for District 1 Chad West said in an email earlier this week.
West said that discussions and task force plans have been delayed due to the intersection at Rosemont, 10th and Jefferson, which has been “particularly difficult” to work through.
Now, the 10th Street Work Group will address the intersection while the Jefferson Boulevard Task Force continues their efforts ahead of the 2024 bond.
“The separation is intended to allow the Task Force to move forward aggressively in its work while the Intersection Work Group takes the time and steps necessary to ensure that a great design emerges for the intersection,” West said.
West said the task force will move on to focus on infrastructure enhancements, which are Phase II of the task forces’s plans.
The first phase was completed in July 2022, when street re-striping was completed as part of the lane reduction plan.
Chairing the task force is William Zimmerman, who was appointed by West. The task force will have seven members, including a co-chair, a Sunset Hill Neighborhood Association representative, a LO Daniel representative, a DISD representative and a business corridor representative.
The intersection at Rosemont, 10th and Jefferson.
Dottie Brashear was appointed Chair of the 10th Street Work Group by West, and representatives from the Kessler School and the Winnetka Heights Neighborhood Association still have to be named to finish out the five person work group.
Brashear will also serve as the Winnetka Heights Neighborhood Association representative on the Jefferson Boulevard Task Force.
West says the open seats on the task force and work group should be filled by the end of January.
Zimmerman says that the task force will work in coming months to come up with a design for the street and meet with neighbors for community feedback. Once a design is finalized, a budget will be decided on and entered into the bond cycle.
“There needs to be a concentrated effort on that intersection, but there’s the longer term project of how do we make Jefferson a safer street for Oak Cliff that needs a broader focus,” Zimmerman said. “It just made sense to have two separate groups that, while coordinated, are focused on the issues at hand.”
West says he has requested City Staff publicly announce a timeline including completion dates for design work by the end of March.
Brashear says she is in favor of the separation as the work group will not be under the time pressure of the 2024 bond.
“Allowing for a separate task force enables us to Improve the safety of this intersection in a more timely manner,” Brashear says. “We are working to meet with various departments in the city to ensure they understand the current and future needs of the community. We are also working to get a public meeting scheduled to ensure we include everyone and hear everyone’s voice.”
