DALLAS | DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) Development News

[Dallas star]

Dallas Area Rapid Transit Thread

Current and Future Rail Developements

source: http://www.dart.org/about/expansion/expansionmaps.asp
source 2: http://www.dart.org/about/expansion/otherprojects.asp

[Dallas star]

Dart Green line:
With the first section of the Green Line scheduled to open in 2009, mere plans are slowly transforming into realities. North Texas is literally seeing concrete proof that DART is on the move.

This 28 mile, $1.8 billion project will connect communities far and wide, bringing public transportation to more people in more places. It is a clean air solution for the citizens of Pleasant Grove, Dallas, Farmers Branch and Carrollton that is expected to reduce pollutant emissions by more than 320 tons per year.

It's also providing a boost to the local economy. Looking at the big picture, the DART Rail System is responsible for $7 billion in current, planned and projected transit-oriented development. The Green Line expansion plays a part in this and includes large and visible projects such as Ambrose at Baylor University Medical Center Station and Cityville at Southwestern Medical District/Parkland Station.

Where is the Green Line taking DFW? The answer cannot be measured by physical distance alone. Rather, the line's impact will be seen in the region's improved mobility and air quality, the bolstered economy and the overall quality of life.

Get ready, North Texas. The future is now.




source: http://www.dart.org/about/expansion/greenlinemap.asp

[Dallas star]

Dart Orange Line:
The 14-mile Orange Line is a key component of a regional rail expansion that will lead to the doubling of DART's rail network to more than 90 miles by 2013. The Orange Line will run parallel with the Green Line through Downtown Dallas to Bachman Station in Northwest Dallas. From Bachman Station, the Orange Line heads northwest to the Las Colinas Urban Center in 2011 and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in 2013.

source: http://www.dart.org/about/expansion/orangeline.asp

[FM 2258]

It's good to see DART rail access to both airports coming in the future.

[Dallas star]

Yeah, agreed this project is seriously overdued. The rail between McArthur and DFW will be fairly close to my hood so I should finally have easy access to the DART Rail system.

[Dallas star]

Dart 10th Anniversary video!





This video makes me proud of DART! The Green and Yellow lines will be the most important for me!

[Dallas star]

Rail funding bill clears final Senate hurdle

The Senate just seconds ago voted 21-9 to give third and final approval to a bill authored by Sen. John Carona, a measure that would give counties the right to hold elections in which voters can decide to raises their own taxes and other fees to pay for rail expansion in the suburbs.

Communities like Dallas that already invest heavily in transit could ask voters to pay more to fund highway improvements as well. The menu of possible tax increases includes increases of up to 10 cents per gallon of gasoline, higher vehicle registration fees and a new resident "impact fee" for folks who move to Texas and register a car from out of town. (A full list of the possible increases can be found at the end of this article.)

The bill lost some support over the weekend, but still easily passed with no debate. Concerns raised last week by Sen. Steve Ogden about its constitutionality were not entirely resolved, as some of the bill's backers in North Texas had reported last week. Nine senators voted against the bill Tuesday.

It now must pass in the House, where Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Southlake, is its sponsor.

Gov. Rick Perry has said he is concerned about the bill, but has not said he will veto it.

source: http://transportationblog.dallasnews...ding-bill.html

[saurdemol]

Updates? News?

[Dallas star]

DART TAKES NEXT STEP IN DFW AIRPORT CONNECTION

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is making the final push to DFW Airport with the award of a design-build contract to construct a 5.2-mile extension of the Orange Line from the future Belt Line Station to the airport's Terminal A. A joint venture of Kiewit, Stacy and Witbeck, Reyes, Parsons (KSWRP) was selected by the DART Board of Directors to complete the $149,750,000 project known as Irving-3 (I-3).

Construction should begin in early 2012 and the I-3 section is scheduled to open on December 15, 2014. DFW Airport is building the Terminal A station. The first two sections of the Orange Line -- Bachman Station to Las Colinas Convention Center and then on to Belt Line Station at SH 161 and Belt Line on DFW Airport property -- will open July 30, 2012 and December 3, 2012, respectively. Those two sections are also being built by the KSWRP joint venture.

The project will be funded locally, however because of its multi-modal nature (airport service, light rail and buses), DART is pursuing $130 million in federal funds under the TIGER III program which are aimed at multi-modal transportation projects. Receiving the federal funds could free up local dollars for other agency projects.

"So many people and agencies worked to bring I-3 forward," DART President/Executive Director Gary Thomas said. "We have benefitted from the great support of the City of Irving and the tremendous cooperation of DFW Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Transportation Administration. We are ready to get to work."

Article: http://dart.org/news/news.asp?ID=989

[WesTexas]

Here are the new DART buses:

[Jim856796]

The following lines of the DART light rail system were proposed in October 2006 as part of DART's 2030 plan:

* A 2.9-mile (4.7 km) light rail extension of the Blue Line to Bonnie View Road and Interstate 20 to the new SouthPort intermodal port in southeast Dallas.
* A 4.3-mile (6.9 km) light rail extension of the Red Line south to Red Bird Lane.
* A 4.3-mile (6.9 km) light rail extension of the Orange Line along Scyene Road to approximately Masters Drive.
* A 6-mile (10 km) light rail line in West Dallas along Fort Worth Avenue or Singleton to Loop 12/Jefferson Boulevard.
* A station for the Lake Highlands neighborhood of northeast Dallas on the Blue Line, between White Rock Station and LBJ/Skillman Station, which opened on December 6, 2010, becoming the first component of the 2030 plan to be completed and the first infill station in DART's system.
* A nearly 26-mile (42 km) Cotton Belt Rail Line commuter service in the east-west Cotton Belt corridor from the Red Line in Plano to DFW International Airport. Total length: 67.7-mile (109 km), the line will actually go to Southwest Fort Worth.

Some of these proposed lines will terminate just short of cities who are not members of Dallas Area Rapid Transit. Much of the 2030 plan was scrapped in 2010 citing defecits and drops in revenue.

[diablo234]

The DART Orange Line will officially start service to Irving/Las Colinas on July 30.

[D Green]

System looks better and better.

[Dallas star]

Orange Line is great, I live approximately half a mile from the convention center station so I will definitely be using this line frequently. I also hope they can achieve some sort of DFW Airport integration.

[diablo234]

This was already posted on the Subway/Public Transit forum but I figure I should re-post this here.

Originally Posted by dfwcre8tive

DART's Orange line opened to Irving/Las Colinas today. The next extension to DFW Airport property opens in December, followed by direct rail service to the airport's terminals in 2014.

http://www.nbcdfw.co...-164247146.html

University of Dallas Station:



Las Colinas Urban Center Station:



Irving Convention Center Station:



From DART Image Library: http://www.dart.org/newsroom/imagelibrary.asp

[diablo234]

DART: DART Blue Line Expansion

[diablo234]

Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/trans...fw-airport.ece

Big day for DART as routes are extended to Rowlett, D/FW Airport

By RAY LESZCYNSKI
Staff Writer
rleszcynski@dallasnews.com
Published: 03 December 2012 07:05 AM

Expansion of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system could be seen Monday in the form of three new rail stations and in higher user fees to board buses and trains.

A promise nearly three decades old was fulfilled in Rowlett, an original member city which saw its first day of Blue Line light-rail service. The Orange Line was extended into Irving with stops at North Lake College and Belt Line roads inching closer to the system-wide dream of rail service to D/FW International Airport.

From Belt Line at Valley View, the new Route 500 bus shuttles fliers and employees to the airport — a stop-gap measure until the Orange Line is completed in 2014.

“This is an experiment for me,” said Jim Lay, who caught the 500 to Belt Line Station on Monday morning after flying in from Baltimore. A frequent visitor to Dallas, he found the new rail system a welcome alternative to the $65 cab fare or multi-step transfer he used previously to get downtown.

At the opposite end of the platform, Gary Dudek was testing out the new rail line on his day off.

The airport employee's previous DART commute to work took at least 2 ½ hours each way, he said: a bus, then another bus to one of D/FW’s remote lots, then a shuttle, then another shuttle.

Even worse, he said, the buses often stopped running before the end of his night shift, forcing him to walk part of the way back.

“Hopefully I don't have to walk nine miles home anymore,” he said.

Gary Thomas, DART president and executive director, said success would be judged short-term by people being able to get where they needed to go.

Longer-term for Rowlett, which has paid $73.6 million into the system since 1984, Thomas looked at development opportunities along Main Street, State Highway 66 and the Bush Turnpike, all close to the station and its 750 parking spaces. While DART did not have ridership numbers to release, more than two-thirds of those spaces were occupied by 9 a.m.

“If you drive to downtown Garland and Rowlett, they’re hard to get to,” he said. “It is exciting to see these opportunities.

“I think this is going to be a great city for people to come to. Not just an origination point, but a destination as well.”

Greg Weiler, who has been taking the bus to commute to his job in downtown Dallas for 21 years, hopes it’ll be an immediate benefit to his favorite burger place on Rowlett’s Main Street.

The population of the city along Lake Ray Hubbard has grown five-fold to more than 56,000 during its tenure in DART. The transit agency was initially approved by less than 1,000 voters.

“The vision of the people that said then that ‘Yes, this is something we need to be a part of’ is remarkable,” said Rowlett Council member Donna Davis.

As expected, Rowlett’s first train also served residents from points east.

John Cothran, network services manager at El Centro College, had been commuting from Rockwall to the train in downtown Garland for about three years.

“When I started down there, I was commuting via car and realized there was a train station. I tried that and it was so much easier,” he said. “The traffic coming in from Rockwall starts at the George Bush, about a block from here. I’m going to save a ton of time.”

Because of a two-week test train period, riders in Downtown Garland had gotten used to the fact that trains arrived from an overpass to the east and that they had to wait in the wind instead of the warmed rail cars.

What they weren’t used to was a shorter walk from the parking lot. Maybe not the 200 fewer cars DART predicted once Rowlett opened, but certainly there were spaces available both near the bus connections and at Garland’s Performing Arts Center.

At the Downtown Garland station ticket machines, the roughly 25 percent fare increase wasn’t being discussed as much as the change in the touch-screen options. Those looking for reduced fares paused as the former “reduced” option had been broken down into child, senior/disability, high school and college/trade categories.

Dawn Swinburne, one of a half-dozen people jumping on in Garland to ride against the mid-morning flow to get to work in Rowlett. But she missed a train by half a minute.

“It went up to $5 instead of $4, but I’m still saving $330 a month by not driving by my figures,” she said. “Even though there’s some inconvenience, if I’m saving money, I’m happy.”

The train ride from Garland to a new station on Monday was 40 minutes longer than the commute two North Lake College students had by car, they said. And they weren’t looking forward to trekking across North Lake’s massive parking lot each morning. But they considered such inconveniences a fair trade for saving $40 a week on gas.

“And now I get to study on the train,” said Shasta Massey.

But back at the platform, the Orange Line had deposited a dozen riders trying to get to work in Valley Ranch, a few miles north. None of them were happy to be there.

The workers hadn’t known DART would be reshuffling its bus routes on Monday. So they took the train to Las Colinas Urban Center Station only to find their usual bus didn’t stop there anymore.

They said a DART hotline misdirected them to another station. Several train rides and more than an hour later, they had finally found their new bus stop but many were already late for work.

“I don’t want to complain,” said Alex Flores, a waiter at Mattito’s Tex Mex. “I’m only going to ride it another week. Then my car gets fixed and I don’t have to ride a train anymore.”

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

[diablo234]

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram: The T seeks $100 million for commuter rail vehicles
By Gordon Dickson
gdickson@star-telegram.com

Riders on a proposed commuter rail line stretching from southwest Fort Worth to DFW Airport could enjoy sleek, modern rail cars in 2016, but only if the Fort Worth Transportation Authority gets a lot of help from its neighbors.

On Thursday, the authority commonly known as the "T," will ask member cities of the Regional Transportation Council to pay up to $100 million to buy as many as nine sets of the cars even though details of a final plan are still being worked out.

That cash commitment could also help lure a rail manufacturer to the region, providing jobs and boosting the economy, officials believe. The request is scheduled to be discussed today by the Fort Worth City Council.

The T plans to repay the money, and is applying for federal funds to pay for up to half of the estimated $960 million needed for the project. But the agency needs to order the cars now to ensure they'd be ready in time for the TEX Rail/Cotton Belt line's launch three years from now.

"If these vehicles are going to be here by the 2016 time frame, they need to be procured," said Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Government. "I think the RTC is willing to take a risk, and we will somehow get the project across the goal line."

The Cotton Belt Rail Line is a planned 62-mile commuter rail route connecting Dallas, Tarrant, and Collin counties. Dallas Area Rapid Transit is responsible for building part of the line, with the Fort Worth T in charge of the 37-mile Tarrant County portion.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/12...#storylink=cpy

[diablo234]

Some photos of the M-Line Streetcar Olive Street extension.

image hosted on flickr

M-Line Streetcar Olive St. Extension by C Troy Mathis, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

M-Line Streetcar Olive St. Extension by C Troy Mathis, on Flickr

[JJG]

Originally Posted by diablo234

God, our transit system sucks...