Just below the surface of Cole Park is an underground vault. Cole Park,named after Jack Cole, is just north of North Dallas High School and is at the northern edge of Uptown. The park is now under construction with new sidewalk and other amenities being added.
When you go past the park you will notice a non-descript building on the southwestern corner,near the tennis courts. Within that building there is an elevator shaft that will take you to the Cole Park Detention Vault. The vault is totally dark as you would expect it to be. There are 13 vaults here spreading over 842 feet in the direction of Turtle Creek. Each vault is 24 feet wide and 40 feet tall . The 13 vaults have a 71 million gallon capacity. These vaults are used for capturing flood waters before they reach Turtle Creek.
The vaults were built in 1993, at the same time as Central Expressway,and have been used at least 3 times since,during heavy rains. The vaults then hold the excess rain water and slowly release back into the creek . We do not get a lot of rain here ,but, when we do it can bring a flood very quickly.
Now you know a little about what is down below Uptown. Downtown Dallas has many tunnels leading to most of the major high rises. The downtown tunnels are open during the day,Monday-Friday, and have many retail shops and restaurants. A good place to go walking if you do not like the hot summer sun.
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