Why are roads built the way they are? Why does water flow in a specific way down the road when it rains? 

These kinds of questions don’t normally come to mind until inconveniences, such as road construction, occur.

For the residence of Congo Street, raising these questions has changed the way they live.
SMU’s Lyle School of Engineering is cooperating with the Building Community Workshop in the Congo Street Green Initiative, which helps restore structural integrity to 17 duplexes and single-family homes. 

Located near Fair Park in Dallas, all 17 residences are over 100 years old and are in desperate need of restoration. 

The Building Community Workshop is a non-profit organization that is in charge of bringing these homes to the level of structural integrity required for healthy and sound living, according to Wahid Manawi, team leader and Ph.D. Candidate in Structural Engineering. 

The restoration of the buildings is “developed out of a desire to preserve the pervasive sense of community and to respect the economic options available to neighbors as both land owners and homeowners,” according to the Building Community Workshop Web site.

Lyle School’s Department of Environmental and Civil Engineering (ENCE) and Huitt Zollars, a Dallas engineering firm, are providing technical support and design expertise in the renovation of Congo Street. 

The Congo street area is part of a largely neglected section in Dallas that has not seen any improvements in roughly 50 years, according to Manawi.

 He said the Congo Street area is in complete ruins, with inadequate rain runoff capacity, which creates water puddles along the street, even during a short period of rainfall.

The goal of the project is “to bring improvements to the living conditions of Congo Street residents by providing a team of [SMU] interns and technical advice,” Manawi said.

The SMU team of interns will examine the existing conditions of the street, survey the surrounding area of the street, provide an analysis of the water run-off, and the capacity of existing drainage system.

Then, they will come up with innovative and economic solutions and potential bid documents, according to Manawi

Individuals also involved include ENCE professor Dr. Roger Dickey, ENCE graduate Austin Fee, ENCE graduate John Duvenci, and Brent Brown, the founder of Building Community Workshop and main architect of the project.

Fee said he is excited to work in an area of Dallas “that has been completely neglected…for over 100 years now.”  The project provides an opportunity to “undo the wrongs done to this street.”