Friday, March 29, 2024 Mar 29, 2024
58° F Dallas, TX
Advertisement
Politics & Government

More Reasons to Question DART’s Planning For Downtown’s Future

The transit agency offers differing explanations for how it hopes to pay for projects.
By Jason Heid |
Image

Yesterday Peter asked an excellent question: Why is DART looking to decide the alignment of its $80 million downtown streetcar when the route of its possibly $1 billion second downtown light-rail line is yet to be determined? His piece included this burn:

Here’s what’s most troubling to me about this whole thing. Dallas has been handed the opportunity to plan two huge major public investments in downtown transit together, and yet DART seems content to roll along on each project, considering them independently of each other, seemingly with little concern for context and mobility, while hoping the whole thing snaps together nicely in the end. How come DART’s planners aren’t running ridership scenarios for the streetcar and D2 together? Wouldn’t it be useful for policy makers to know that if D2 is built in one way it will affect streetcar ridership differently depending on the various alignments? Even a 6-year-old playing with an erector set has a better appreciation for the way systems operate than to ignore the fact that D2 and the streetcar will affect the success of one another.

A 6-year-old? Ouch. When I first saw this, I thought Peter was being a tad harsh. But then I read about what went down at Monday’s DART briefing of a Dallas City Council committee:

Dallas Area Rapid Transit officials gave conflicting answers Monday about whether two downtown transit projects will be seeking the same pot of federal funds for construction.

DART rail planning vice president Steve Salin told Dallas City Council members the agency hasn’t yet decided which grant program to pursue for a downtown streetcar extension. But that statement came both before and after DART president and executive director Gary Thomas said the agency plans to tap different grant programs for the streetcar extension and a second light-rail alignment through downtown.

And then there was this bit that City Councilman Philip Kingston told the DMN:

Kingston said when he inquired about DART not submitting the streetcar extension in a small starts grant application that’s do next month, he was told that city staffers wanted to slow down on that project.

“I can’t find anyone in City Hall who remembers that,” Kingston said.

The council member said he was then told that the deadline for applications was moved up by several weeks, hindering the attempt at submitting the streetcar project this fiscal year.

“It’s two explanations when one would do,” Kingston said.

No, I don’t think Peter was being too harsh after all.

Related Articles

Image
Arts & Entertainment

Here’s Who Is Coming to Dallas This Weekend: March 28-31

It's going to be a gorgeous weekend. Pencil in some live music in between those egg hunts and brunches.
Image
Arts & Entertainment

Arlington Museum of Art Debuts Two Must-See Nature-Inspired Additions

The chill of the Arctic Circle and a futuristic digital archive mark the grand opening of the Arlington Museum of Art’s new location.
By Brett Grega
Image
Arts & Entertainment

An Award-Winning SXSW Short Gave a Dallas Filmmaker an Outlet for Her Grief

Sara Nimeh balances humor and poignancy in a coming-of-age drama inspired by her childhood memories.
By Todd Jorgenson
Advertisement