The Dallas City Council last week approved plans for two big transit projects, a downtown subway route and a new streetcar line that would connect the city’s two existing streetcar lines, the Dallas Morning News reports. Their decision was one hurdle to clear for Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), which will now continue design work as it pursues federal funding.
The streetcar extension, which has an estimated price tag of $92 million, would link two lines — one in Uptown and one running from Union Station to the Bishop Arts District in north Oak Cliff.
In August, Downtown Dallas Inc. CEO Kourtny Garrett told Council that the route would likely have the highest ridership of several that were considered as potential links, as Next City reported at the time. Several council members asked that other routes be put on the back burner for future discussions.The original streetcar line, which debuted to mixed reviews in 2015, was planned with extensions in mind.
The subway, meanwhile, has an estimated cost of $1.3 billion, and will serve as a reliever line because all four DART light rail lines currently run on the same downtown tracks. Its route was chosen from three contenders, the Morning News reports.
Rachel Dovey is an award-winning freelance writer and former USC Annenberg fellow living at the northern tip of California’s Bay Area. She writes about infrastructure, water and climate change and has been published by Bust, Wired, Paste, SF Weekly, the East Bay Express and the North Bay Bohemian
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