Dallas City Council Passes Resolution Approving Construction Of The DART D2 Subway Project To Improve Dallas Public Transit

The Dallas City Council has approved the construction of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) D2 Subway Project to bring improvement to public transit in Dallas.

According to the newly approved project, a second light-rail line will run through downtown Dallas and extend from Victory Park to Deep Ellum. The support for the resolution was unanimous. DART will pay half of the $1.7 billion and the other half will come from federal sources. The project requires increased coordination between DART and the city government with relevant inputs from the state government too. The city council will have to vote on the resolution again in 2022 based on the progress made in 2021.

Hundreds of thousands of riders use the DART system every day to commute from places of learning, work, leisure, and worship. New businesses and residences are being built every day. On account of the explosive growth in population, the city hopes that the D2 Subway project will improve the passenger carrying capacity, add operational flexibility, and bolster the entire light rail system’s reliability. The city council said that the resolution is an attempt to make the mass transit in the city walkable, transit-oriented and sustainable in the long term. Paul N. Wageman, chair of the DART Board of Directors, said that the board appreciates the Dallas city council's continued support of the transportation initiative.

However, some neighborhoods are not on board with the idea, as reported in an article by D-Magazine, a local online and print magazine. Residents of Deep Ellum, where the east side of the subway alignment emerges above ground, have opposed the design. Because of the push back, the resolution that passed also includes a commitment to continue to work towards addressing community concerns. The resolution splits the project into two zones - Zone A on the west side and Zone B on the east side. The $1.7 billion spending limit on DART is a cause of concern, as it is not clear how much leeway the feds will allow the agency for its work in Zone B.

The president of the Deep Ellum Foundation, an organization made up of business and property owners managing and funding that neighborhood's Public Improvement District, said in an email, “We will work diligently with our stakeholders, City Council and staff, NCTCOG, DART and TxDOT over the next several months to hopefully devise a workable alternative alignment for D2 on the east side.”

Ward Maedgen Accident Attorneys, a law firm serving Dallas, TX and surrounding areas, is following all developments with the D2 Subway project on account of its importance to the community. The firm released a blog post summarizing the approval status of the current resolution. The blog post also puts into perspective the community’s reaction to the project by highlighting another article from D-Magazine. The law firm handles personal injury cases of many types such as car accidents, motorcycle accidents, truck / big rig accidents, wrongful death, medical malpractice, defective products, brain and head injury, construction injury, premises liability, and insurance bad faith claims.

The planning for the D2 Subway project began in 2007 and reached a milestone of 30 percent level of preliminary design in October 2020. In a statement talking about the benefits and logistics of the project, Paul Wageman said to Mass Transit magazine, "The DART D2 Subway project demonstrates a commitment to strengthening the DART system and creating a more transit-oriented and accessible network for the benefit of our riders and the residents of North Texas. The next several months will be focused on continuing the collaborative, multi-agency effort among DART, the city of Dallas, the North Central Texas Council of Governments and [Texas Department of Transportation] to evaluate any proposed refinements, enhancements, and/or modifications to the east end of the corridor in coordination with stakeholders."

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