Fair weather this weekend brought thousands of visitors to the Dallas Zoo, resulting in multiple traffic and parking issues.
This past weekend saw pleasant conditions across North Texas, with temperatures in the 70s and breezy conditions. The National Weather Service in Fort Worth predicted temperatures as high as 76 on February 24 for the DFW metroplex and into the 80s the following day.
In addition to fair weather, this weekend was the last for locals to take advantage of the zoo’s discounted admission prices as part of their winter-time promotion known as Penguin Days.
The beautiful weather brought locals and families across North Texas to the Dallas Zoo this weekend, with at least 10,000 visitors daily, per CBS News Texas.
“The weather’s awesome. It’s a good day to be out with the kids and not be stuck in the house,” said zoo patron Armando Arias to CBS News Texas.
The influx of visitors, however, presented a challenge to both staff and visitors. In a social media post, the zoo said at about 12:05 p.m. that its parking lots were at capacity, advising locals who planned to visit that day to come via DART or ride share.
The zoo gave a similar advisory for visitors the following day.
“If you’re planning a Zoo day today, please note that our parking lots are currently experiencing high traffic. Please be patient with us while we work to find parking for you when you arrive. We highly recommend taking DART or ride shares to avoid traffic tie-ups,” read a social media post from the Dallas Zoo.
Arias explained that his family had visited three separate parking lots before finally finding a space during their visit. Shannon Deutsch, another zoo visitor there with her family, described their parking search as “frustrating.”
“Awful wasted a lot of time we could’ve been at the zoo already,” said Arias, per CBS News Texas.
The Dallas Zoo attempts to remedy parking issues on days such as these by expanding parking to include grass lots as well as street parking.
Additionally, the zoo is attempting to receive $30 million from Dallas’s $1.25 billion 2024 City bond package, which would support the construction of a parking garage with nearly 600 extra parking spots.
“We appreciate all the work the bond task force and City staff and City council have done as they’ve gone through this bond allocation process,” said a spokesperson for the zoo in a statement, per CBS News Texas. “We know they’ve had to make hard decisions and we look forward to helping voters understand why this support for the zoo and our parks in general is so critical.”
