Dallas has about three miles of subterranean tunnels and sky bridges that crisscross the city, but aside from a few food courts beneath office highrises, they're largely vacant. If that's the case, why are they there in the first place? And what is the future of the empty space?
Baylee Friday gets a tour of the tunnels from Dallas software developer Michael Sitarzewski, who took an interest in them and knows every nook and cranny.
Then, Dustin Bullard, chief of urban transformation for Downtown Dallas Inc., and Dallas City Council member Paul Ridley, whose district includes most of the tunnels, explain the vision for downtown and whether the underground space has a place in it.
Bullard said downtown Dallas experienced tremendous growth in the last 30 years.
"This is the best data set really to use on census data, right? So it's going to be 1990 to 2020. The city of Dallas's population increased by 29%. That's just the city. And then if we look at the downtown population growth from 1990 to 2020 it was over 6,000% growth," Bullard said. "So 1990 residents: 220. And then in 2020, we had 14,500 residents. And that is just within the downtown core of downtown. So within that inner freeway loop."
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