Here’s the best line in Dallas Morning News transportation writer Brandon Formby’s report on Plano’s approval of $12 million to fast track the Cotton Belt DART extension:
“So how far forward does this push the project? That’s tough to say, because (as is the case in transportation funding and planning) things get complicated very fast.”
When it comes to the Cotton Belt, things are quite complicated. To start, there’s the hefty $1 billion to $2.9 billion price tag, which shifts dramatically depending on when the project is actually built. And while Plano and Addison have shown a strong support for the project over the years, political leaders in Dallas are not so hot on spending billions on new light rail miles.
Drill down even closer, and the opposition in Dallas is even more multifaceted. North Dallas council member Sandy Greyson doesn’t like the Cotton Belt because of the way it may impact the suburban neighborhoods she represents. Closer to downtown, urban-minded Dallasites are suspicious of DART’s motivations in pushing the Cotton Belt, and they worry that the need to fund the massive extension is resulting in the agency fast-tracking an at-grade version of the much-needed second downtown alignment in lieu of an underground option that, they argue, would better facilitate downtown growth.
Finally, you have the Carollton mayor, Matthew Marchant, who wonders why we are thinking about spending more billions on the most inefficient rail system in the country, when a Bus Rapid Transit line would do the job of the Cotton Belt with less upfront cost. Of course, for Plano commuters who want to get to DFW Airport without traveling through DART’s downtown bottleneck, the idea of having to switch from BRT to rail just to get to the airport probably doesn’t sound like the kind of thing that deserves a $12 million funding boost.
So where does this all leave everything? Well, pretty much where it always leaves us when it comes to DART, watching for smoke signals. I find it curious that the Cotton Belt is getting new attention concurrent to the ongoing work on the D2 line, though it is not surprising considering the political pressure the agency is under from suburban cities like Plano and Addison, which have been waiting for service for decades.
The context of Plano’s push also includes the FTA’s ongoing core capacity grant program from which DART is trying to secure funds for D2. If DART gets the D2 funds, will they chase more core capacity grants for the Cotton Belt? And will the city of Dallas ever get its act together and push the downtown streetcar project along so that DART can also submit it for core capacity consideration, something the agency planned to do concurrently with D2, but which has been held up, DART says, by Dallas City Hall?
That’s a hefty laundry list of capital needs, but this is what bothers me about the whole way the conversation is being framed. When you zoom out and look at the big picture, will any one of these really expensive rail projects really affect the way public transit functions in Dallas, or will it drive a significant numbers of new riders to DART, or will it make Dallas or the region more navigable by public transit?
Will any of these things allow people who make at or around minimum wage to forgo the financial hardship of having to service and maintain a car just to get to their jobs? Or, are there other more strategic investments — like multiple BRT lines, better timed traffic signals that prioritize bus movement, the creation of dedicated lanes and stations for buses, investment in increased bus frequency — that might actually make Dallas’ public transit system more usable?
Has the precedent of 30 years of transit development and policy in North Texas created a situation in which the political climate that surrounds public transit decisions forces DART to think more about infrastructure than mobility?