The City of McKinney is considering how to make it safer for pedestrians crossing Texas Highway 5 between Louisiana and Virginia Streets and solicited the input of local residents last week.
McKinney residents were able to evaluate three different crossing proposals and provided feedback at a public meeting held at the McKinney Performing Arts Center.
Assistant City Manager Kim Flom stated, “Our [city] council, our mayor wants to truly do something bold, something truly unique to McKinney that really knits these two parts of the city back together.”
The project was spurred by an already-existing effort in the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to reconstruct part of Texas Highway 5, according to Community Impact.
As described by NBC 5, the three crossing options under consideration include:
Deck Park – State Highway 5 would be lowered below ground to allow a deck park corridor to be built overhead between Virginia and Louisiana streets. The highway would essentially become a tunnel underground with the park above the road.
Inverted Deck Park – A park corridor would be constructed under Texas SH 5 between Virginia and Louisiana streets. The highway would be at ground level but terraces would be built down toward the plaza below for pedestrians, complete with decorative lighting, artwork, and green space.
Improvements to the Existing Crossing – Minimal enhancements would be made to the existing state highway crossings at Virginia and Louisiana streets with wider sidewalks, but no parks would be created.
McKinney residents Cynthia and Steve Vanlandingham felt McKinney would benefit most from the deck park, which they say is most similar to Klyde Warren Park in Downtown Dallas.
For her part, Nina Dowell Ringley told NBC 5 that improvements to the existing crossing would maintain the area’s historic appeal.
“The rest just doesn’t have the historic feel for me and this is the historic district,” said Ringley.
The City is still accepting public comments from residents through the end of July. Residents can view the three proposals and register their feedback by visiting the McKinney website.
