If you’re a frequent traveler on the Dallas North Tollway and pass through the area between Legacy West and The Shops at Legacy, you might have looked up and wondered, “What are they building?”
It's a canopy walkway, it turns out. Construction has been going on since February, Clay Lipscomb, CIP engineering manager for the City of Plano, said.
The purpose of the walkway is to create a safer, “more pleasant” and “aesthetically pleasing” connection between the east and west sides of the legacy corridor, Lipscomb said. Once completed, the walkway will have two separate 10-foot wide paths. The walkway will also have landscape features, lighting and a traffic safety wall between the roadway and pedestrian walkway.
The walkway has been in the works for a long time. Originally, the City of Plano approved funding for it back in 2017. Now, the City of Plano is paying for it in conjunction with the Texas Department of Transportation, Lipscomb said. TxDOT is providing the city with some federal funding to help with the project as part of a funding agreement between Plano and the department.
A 2018 Parks and Rec Master Plan expanded on the idea of the canopy and proposed building out the pedestrian walkway into an elevated park deck park, reminiscent of Klyde Warren Park. At the time it was received favorably, but considered a low priority for the city. There has been no word since.
The walkway's projected completion is June — at the latest. Lipscomb said construction is moving along very quickly, which accounts for the less-than-half-a-year construction period.
“It’s pretty basic, but it'll be a really neat project when it's done,” Lipscomb said.
