Dallas Area Rapid Transit president Gary Thomas is in Washington this week where he will testify at a congressional subcommittee hearing on the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act that will take place this Wednesday.
Why is Thomas speaking to the subcommittee? Well, the FAST Act is pretty darn important to DART. Enacted in 2015, it created, among many other initiatives, the core capacity grant program that the regional transit organization hopes will fund some of its most needed infrastructure projects, including the addition of a downtown subway as its second light rail alignment.
In fact, the provisions of the FAST Act amount for nearly 15 percent of DART’s projected income, according to its most recent financial plan. The adoption of that financial plan, you may remember, was the subject of some controversy. The DART board approved a version that includes a plan to fund a sped-up Cotton Belt line extension with debt, even though the Dallas City Council adopted a resolution that requested the transit agency to prioritize the downtown subway and streetcar projects above the disputed Cotton Belt line. The fear is that the amount of debt needed to fund the Cotton Belt will damage DART’s financial standing and threaten its chances of winning the grant money for the subway and other improvements.
No matter, as we wait for the feds to release the updated grant applicant financial evaluations (which were supposed to be available by the end of February but, new administration and all, haven’t been released yet), the DART chief will pitch Washington on the Cotton Belt. According to the DMN:
The DART boss will focus on four agency efforts: a train platform lengthening project, a downtown subway line, the Cotton Belt commuter line and a smart-phone app.
That said, the whole Cotton Belt debate sounds a little quaint these days. After all, with a new administration and Republicans in control of both houses of Congress, who knows what will happen to Obama-era transportation funding plans. Which is, essentially, what Thomas is in Washington to find out. Trump has promised $1 trillion in new federal infrastructure funding to create jobs, jobs, jobs, but GOP lawmakers are looking to cut, cut, cut everything in sight:
Policy fights over health care and taxes are already creating a logjam in Congress. A massive increase in infrastructure spending might not play well with GOP budget hawks. And other bureaucratic challenges are already gumming up the works, the Washington Post reported.
Still, Thomas is making the rounds in Washington.
He said he’s met with Transportation Department officials, key Congressional committees and members of the Texas delegation. He also allowed that he visited with a White House official, though he was coy about revealing that person’s identity.
And asked what DART would do if additional federal funds came available, Thomas just smiled.
“We would manage,” he said.
