Cole Park Storm Water Detention Vault

Project completed in 1993.

Beneath the bustling cityscape of Dallas lies a hidden marvel of engineering—the Cole Park Stormwater Detention Vault. This project was constructed between 1990 and 1993, acting as a colossal facility that has been preventing flooding in the Cole Park area for more than 30 years.

Cole Park’s stormwater vault was designed to handle the most extreme rainfall events, boasting a storage capacity of 71 million gallons (equivalent to 218 acre-feet of water). Located 100 feet below the surface within the Austin Chalk limestone, this underground infrastructure ingeniously integrates with the existing city park above, ensuring both urban resilience and minimal disruption.

The detention vault comprises 13 parallel galleries, each 842 feet long, 40 feet by 24 feet wide, and is separated by 16-foot rock pillars. These chambers, which each rises five stories tall and runs the length of more than two football fields, capture stormwater runoff from Central Expressway when the capacity of the Mill Creek storm sewer system is exceeded. The water is then carefully released into Turtle Creek via the Mill Creek Outfall near the Kalita Humphrey Theater.

This enduring system remains a testament to innovative flood mitigation, providing a critical line of flooding defense for Dallas residents and infrastructure.

Learn More
Take a trip underground! Watch video/read article here: Is there a giant underground tank under Cole Park? (WFAA.com)