Photo @RafaelAnchia.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg joined city and state officials Thursday to celebrate the award of $80 million in federal funds to four Dallas projects, including the Southern Gateway Deck Park over I-35.

Sign up for our newsletter!

* indicates required

The funding was announced last month and is part of $3 billion pledged to U.S. projects through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.

Of the $80 million coming Dallas’ way, $25 million will be used to build the second phase deck stretching from Lancaster Avenue to Marsalis Avenue.

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson described the funds as a “momentous, historic investment” into Dallas parks during a celebration held on the completed, first phase of Southern Gateway Park’s deck. The park’s first phase is currently under construction and expected to be completed as early as 2025.

“As you know if you live here, I am a staunch supporter of our parks,” Johnson said. “We are super fired up in this city about our parks because we believe flourishing parks are not a luxury in a modern city, they are a necessity.”

Buttigieg, who was named transportation secretary following a notable presidential campaign in the 2020 election, said the funding is proof that President Joe Biden’s administration is “putting their money where their mouth is.”

“Our nation’s infrastructure is at it’s best when it connects us to each other. But we also know that transportation infrastructure too often has served to divide as well, and we recognize the tough reality that federal dollars were often part of that,” Buttigieg said. “We need to acknowledge that not to wallow in the past or to engage in an exercise of guilt or blame, but because it is step one towards doing things better.”

Buttigieg pointed to the Tenth Street Historic District as a nearby neighborhood negatively impacted by the development as I-35, and said the deck park will serve to bridge the highway’s divide, echoing sentiments that proponents for the deck park have repeatedly emphasized.