El Paso’s city government would have to commit $6 million toward the proposed Interstate 10 Downtown deck plaza by October to unlock millions of dollars of additional federal funding that could advance the ambitious and controversial project.
The urgency is tied to the Texas Department of Transportation’s plans to widen and upgrade the trenched segment of I-10 that runs through Downtown. Deck plaza advocates are trying to match TxDOT’s timeline so the five-block park over that stretch of I-10 – or at least its supporting infrastructure – could be built at the same time.
The El Paso city and county governments this week signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding with the Deck Plaza Foundation. The agreement will enable the foundation “to more aggressively pursue private funding for this project, and also to establish clear roles and expectations of all partners in the project,” said Ian Voglewede, the city’s director of strategic and legislative affairs.
While the agreement doesn’t create specific funding obligations, it states that the city would own the deck park and the Deck Plaza Foundation would be responsible for operating and maintaining the park after construction.
The city has to kick in $6 million to match a contribution of $22.5 million from the federal government toward the project. It’s not yet clear yet from where that money would come. The City Council will vote on whether to allocate that sum toward the deck park in the coming months.
TxDOT plans to solicit bids for the highway reconstruction in late 2027, but needs to know by October whether the deck plaza is well-funded and likely to come to fruition. That way, the agency can incorporate the deck project into its work and install the infrastructure needed to hold up the deck. In a presentation to City Council, the Deck Plaza Foundation said the retaining walls would go in around 2028, and it tentatively expects that construction would take place in 2032 – though officials have, at times, pushed back the timeline.
“If the deck plaza is to proceed, I believe that it will rely very heavily, if not entirely, on both state and federal funding, outside grants, as well as private philanthropic contributions. And this MOU allows for that possibility,” District 8 city Rep. Chris Canales said Tuesday. “This would be a very good, very nice public amenity if the burden for it doesn’t fall on El Paso taxpayers.”
How to pay for it?
The Deck Plaza Foundation says it has put together just over $74 million in funding commitments so far, including:
- $1 million from the county that became available after a sewer-related project came in well under budget last year
- $3 million secured by El Paso Congresswoman Veronica Escobar through the federal Community Project Funding program
- $10 million from the Texas Legislature to pay for its design
- $25 million from the El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization – the transportation planning body for the El Paso and southern New Mexico region that receives most of its funding from the state and federal governments
- $35 million committed from private donors, according to Tracy Yellen, CEO of the Paso del Norte Foundation, which created the Deck Plaza Foundation to advocate for the project
The Deck Plaza Foundation plans to seek an additional $25 million allocation from the Texas Legislature next year.
Even for the deck plaza’s biggest supporters, it’s difficult to parse exactly what tranches of funding are needed for the different phases of the project, and when each needs to be available. Part of that is because TxDOT has pushed back its own timeline for the highway widening project.
The glaring lack of a clear cost estimate is a key reason that the deck plaza’s funding plan remains murky. Opponents and supporters of the deck plaza commonly refer to the cost estimate that best supports their positions.
Nearly two years ago, the Deck Plaza Foundation released a cost estimate of $207 million – with inflation – for the deck and the 6.5-acre park that will sit on it based on a study it paid a consulting firm to conduct.
Opponents, however, refer to a different figure within that same study: $412 million.
The Plaza Foundation has long maintained that the $205 million difference between those two is the estimated investment private developers would make to build 1,700 housing units next to the deck plaza when completed.
At the Commissioners Court meeting this week, Yellen reiterated the reasons behind the two estimates. She noted potential park amenities could include playgrounds, a dog park, sports courts and an amphitheater.
“The other 1.7 acres that is adjacent to the park is an area that we have, hopefully, the potential to build the additional housing. That’s the other $200 million,” Yellen said. “That’s not a cost of this project. That’s an ancillary benefit – an immediate direct impact because of the project.”
Other related cost estimates have floated around.
While the $10 million it will cost to build center columns to help support the deck is included in the $207 million estimate, what’s not included is the $32 million it could cost to build stronger, deeper retaining walls it would require along the highway expansion.
That means the cost to build the deck plaza could approach $239 million. A different, more recent study produced by the Deck Plaza Foundation estimated construction costs at $197 million in 2025 dollars. It’s unclear if the higher $207 million estimate is due to inflation being factored in.
Meanwhile, City Manager Dionne Mack told City Council on Tuesday that the city has no estimate for the total project cost.
“We don’t have a cost until we actually go do the design,” Mack said. “We’ve been very hesitant to publicly have those discussions and conversations.”
The city has started designing the structural elements of the deck and is also trying to find funding to pay for the park amenities, Mack said.
“Once the amenity design is done, I think that gives us a good sense of what those costs and expenses are,” Mack said. “I don’t want to have council believing anything other than the numbers that would be hard and fast to the construction documents.”
In an interview Tuesday, Voglewede said it’s normal for the cost of a large construction project to become clearer as it advances.
“It sounds more chaotic than it is,” Voglewede said “It’s a long-term construction project. We find that as we go through the design process, we get better and better numbers. So, it’s just the nature of the beast.”
On top of the $6 million from the city, there’s still a $14.5 million gap the deck’s supporters have to fill by October – although they’ve begun lining up some federal dollars to meet that need, including the $3.15 million in federal funding that Escobar secured.
If the Deck Plaza Foundation can come up with the $32 million by October, TxDOT would build the infrastructure needed to support the deck. Then, the foundation would have a few years to fundraise hundreds of millions more for construction of the park atop the deck.
Support from city, elected officials?
While the majority of elected El Paso leaders support the project – including Escobar and state representatives – there have been some exceptions.
The Commissioners Court on Monday voted 3-2 in favor of the MOU, with Commissioners Jackie Butler and Iliana Holguin voting against it. The City Council voted 7-1 in favor of the MOU, with District 7 city Rep. Lily Limón, a consistent critic of the deck plaza, voting against it.
“Quality of life means what it looks like when you open your front door: your sidewalks, your streets, safety, lighting. Those, to my community, are what’s important,” said Limón, who represents a large swath of the Lower Valley. “This is not a community that is saying, ‘Entertain me. I want to have fun, I want to do things.’ There’s many, many things to do in our city.”
The five-block-long deck park could create more demand for housing and more businesses in Downtown, supporters say. And the deck’s backers largely believe that having big amenities could help El Paso either attract or retain young families and professionals who might otherwise move elsewhere.
“We have families, we have people that have moved back to our community from bigger cities. And we are also in the process of expanding our Downtown convention center. There’s just a lot of things that are happening,” District 1 city Rep. Alejandra Chavez said. “We want to give this a chance by going into this MOU and seeing if we can fundraise the money without burdening the taxpayers.”
The city’s financial officers have said the city is facing a widening budget gap, with expenses expected to rise by more than $145 million over the next five years – largely driven by public safety costs. City leaders are already looking for ways to increase revenues to pay for streets, parks and other services, as they begin to work on the next fiscal year’s budget.
Mack, who has at times been skeptical of the deck plaza, said a recent public survey on parks use shows there’s demand for more public spaces.
“What we’re seeing is huge growth in the amount of participation that we’re seeing in our two existing parks in the Downtown area,” Mack said, referring to San Jacinto Plaza and Cleveland Square Park.
“Our larger park areas … are really considered our gathering spaces, and are really almost over-utilized in terms of people being able to interact and engage and take advantage of our wonderful weather,” she said during the council meeting Tuesday.
Timeline, details
Yellen said the Deck Plaza Foundation would operate and maintain the park after construction with private dollars. However, the city would be responsible for maintaining the tunnel beneath the park as well as “life-safety infrastructure.”
Mack was unsure how much that would cost the city, but said the city of Dallas pays $3.8 million annually for similar responsibilities for its deck park.
Voglewede said City Council will have to vote to approve each additional step in the project, and can back out along the way if funding doesn’t materialize.
The deck project has not won tens of millions of dollars in federal and state grants supporters sought over the last year. Critics say the MOU will create pressure on the city and county to commit local taxpayer dollars toward the project in the future.
“This MOU may not bind the city financially today,” Limón said, “but it binds us to a naive, unrealistic dream.”
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