Passenger Transport 2010 APTA Annual Meeting - 24

2010 Annual Meeting

DART Rail Expands to Cover 85 Miles by 2012
Green Line Completion Means Beginning of New Opportunities
BY KAREN PTACEK Communications Representative Dallas Area Rapid Transit Dallas, TX
Baylor University Medical Center, Fair Park, and MLK Jr. stations. The second phase of the Green Line—the longest light rail project currently under construction in North America—will add 25 miles and 15 stations to the 48-mile DART Rail System. The Dec. 6 start of revenue service will represent the largest single-day opening of electric light rail in the U.S. in 20 years. In addition to several major employment centers, the $1.8 billion, 28-mile line will serve six major hospitals, six entertainment districts, the Dallas Market Center, the Dallas Love Field Airport area, the Asian Trade District, Farmers Branch, and Carrollton. “The Green Line truly brings our system together with new destinations and new connections,” said DART President/ Executive Director Gary Thomas. “The opportunities are limitless. What’s even better, we have more to add in the next few years with the Orange and Blue Line rail projects.”

rom far southeast Dallas to north Carrollton, communities, businesses, and companies are bracing for the Dec. 6 launch of Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s (DART) most promising rail extension yet—the Green Line Phase II. Momentum has been building since the initial three-mile segment opened in September 2009 with the new Deep Ellum,

Northwest to the Metrocrest
The Green Line can’t open fast enough for Susan Myers, owner of the Silver Star Mercantile in Old Downtown Carrollton. She and other shop owners have been in the thick of rail station construction, road realignments, and civic improvements. Now they’re eager to see the transformation complete. “The growth DART will bring is extreme,” said Myers. “It will open doors that have never been open before. When the train finally arrives, it’s going to be a day in history for our city.” Carrollton officials have contracted Trammel Crow Company’s High Street Residential to create a pedestrian-friendly mixed-use development that bridges the Downtown Carrollton Station and the southern charm of the existing town square. The city also is rezoning property around its three stations for transitoriented development and roadway improvements designed to spur growth. The arrival of the Green Line also heralds a new era for Carrollton as a North Texas rail hub. The Denton County Transportation Authority’s A-Train service will connect to DART at the Trinity Mills Station in 2011. Also, regional leaders are seeking innovative funding sources to fast-track commuter rail service along the Cotton Belt corridor through the Downtown Carrollton Station. Meanwhile, neighboring Farmers Branch got its first glimpse at a DART railcar displayed at the soon-to-open Farmers Branch Station during the city’s first Memorial Day LibertyFest celebration. “As an historian, it amuses me that that the Farmers Branch Station is located almost exactly where a train depot once sat,” said Derrick Birdsall, superintendent of the Farmers Branch Historical Park, “and that the creation of a new city center is planned where downtown was decades ago.” In anticipation of the Green Line’s arrival, park officials installed a walking path and

Lake June Station is one of 15 new DART Rail stations opening Dec. 6. DART began testing trains on the new sections of the corridor during the summer.

DALLAS CONTINUED ON PAGE 30
24 | Passenger Transport
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Passenger Transport 2010 APTA Annual Meeting

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Passenger Transport 2010 APTA Annual Meeting