Under Appreciated.

A Free Walking Tour Hopes To Change Your Perceptions Of Downtown Dallas' Tunnels.

For more than 30 years now, workers in Downtown Dallas have made use of the Dallas Pedestrian Network to get back and forth between their cars and the office. Known colloquially as “the tunnels,” the 36-block, three-mile network of underground tunnels and sky bridges doesn't necessarily live up to its full potential.

There's a few reasons for this, to be sure. Originally planned to provide air-conditioned walkways to help business folk beat the Texas summer heat, the tunnels also wound up alleviating so much street-level foot traffic that so often make Downtown look like a ghost town mid-day.

Other than a handful of fast-food restaurants, we've never really found much treasure in our own exploration of the tunnels. Cool as hanging out underground sounds, there's not really much down there for anyone except the business people.

Not everyone shares our opinion, though. Michael Sitarzewski thinks the “Over Under District” is one of the city's jewels, and is full of ideas how the network can help enrich Dallas' walkable reputation. On Friday, June 12 — and then monthly after that — Sitarzewski will lead a free-to-attend, three-hour walking tour of the tunnels, where he'll share some of his visions for the tunnels' future.

Is it a very niche audience that might be into something like this? Sure. But it could prove interesting, too, as Sitarzewski's likely to turn you on to at least one aspect of the network you probably weren't aware of before.

And if not, you could always slip into the Subway midway through and no one will be the wiser.