Dallas County breaks ground on new emergency response center

Dallas County breaks ground on new emergency center

Dallas County is hoping to strengthen its emergency management team with a new facility.

DALLAS - Dallas County is building a new emergency operations center in northwest Dallas.

Construction crews broke ground Monday on the nearly 40,000-square-foot facility located across the highway from Dallas Love Field Airport and the Dallas Medical District.

It will be the future nerve center for the county’s emergency communications, allowing multiple agencies to work together and make decisions more quickly.

"We chose this site because we want to be slightly out of the Central Business District because the city of Dallas’ EOC is there. And if something were to happen to the Central Business District, then we would need to have a functioning EOC. We want to be close enough to the Central Business District and Downtown because all the roads go through there. And it’s easy for us from this location to get anywhere in the county," said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.

The space will also include a warehouse for storing supplies and a storm shelter that will be able to withstand an EF-5 tornado, a storm that can produce winds of more than 260 mph.

The project has a price tag of about $40 million.

It should be completed sometime in 2025.