Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum

electricron

^I do not disagree with you, electricron, not in the least. The trains from downtown Plano to Dallas may always be more local than express, only raising the importance of an additional passenger train route from Frisco built to handle local and express trains. How many times do I have to state that...

electricron

I commented just this weekend on how great NCX was looking. Finally, perhaps, we have a landscape that will survive those horrid conditions. Speaking of horrid conditions - I know NorthPark has nothing to do with NCX service roads, but the northbound exit at NorthPark/Park Lane is just disgusting. ...

electricron

Well, when DART was just beginning to plan this system, I guess they could not have anticipated the need for express trains. It's expensive to fix mistakes, and in the case of CitiPlace and potential Knox-Henderson subway stations, the mistake is likely too expensive to be worth it. Should the Dall...

electricron

^word I'm wondering why Southwest doesn't pay for a swift, convenient people mover from their Corporate HQ & Train Station to the airport. SW employees would be the primary users, afterall; the company could easily work out $60-100 million people mover across a few budget cycles and gain the go...

electricron

But possibly more importantly, there's the criminal/homeless element the above-ground stations downtown attract. Spend 30 seconds at West End Station and you'll see what I'm talking about. I'd go as far as to say that's one of the primary reasons the West End died as a major destination in the 90s ...

electricron

While the streetcars can run over DART's light rail tracks, why would you want to do so?Their floor heights are different, so all the platforms' heights will have to be changed again to allow level boarding. The streetcars have a much slower maximum speed, which could affect train scheduling, as the...

electricron

They should have saved the SilverLine designation for a train that ran up US75 to that casino just across the Oklahoma border. While DART owns the railroad corridor paralleling US75 as far north as Sherman, why do you think DART will ever build light rail line up that far? Not one city north of Pla...

electricron

The DART light rail system would work great as a commuter system. However, that would require a transition of infrastructure from light rail to heavy rail such as Tex Rail or DCTA A Train. It would also require removing several stations along the lines in order to speed up the train schedule. DART ...

electricron

Autonomous flying vehicles will never be approved by the FAA which is staffed, funded, and controlled by pilots. Watch some Aviation 101 youtube videos to find out how professional flying is - even for private pilots in small airplanes. The idea that Billy Bob from anywhere Texas is going to be allo...

electricron

White Rock Lake residents might have influence over city staffers, but apparently their power over state staffers is not as high. While I do not have anything at stake and really do not care, it is nice to see for once the iperferred choice following an actual-real traffic study chosen.

electricron

Not unlike the Knox-Henderson station that didn't happen because it was unwanted (until after the dust settled and the light rail proved popular), and the same with Corinth along the DCTA A-Train. Oh well, more transit and trains for the rest of us.... Whether the citizens of Corinth wanted a train...

electricron

John McCain Road @ Colleyville Road? If the community favored the large scale mixed use development, that would be a great eventual location for the next big variation of the corporate processing/training/tech consolidation along the lines of State Farm/Deloitte/Schwab.... tailored to the multinati...

electricron

I still don't understand why Collyville rejected a station. Collyville did not wish to pay for a train station. Where in Collyville would you place it? There was not, is not, will never be a great place for a train station in Collyville! Few streets cross the tracks where potential riders could get...

electricron

FWIW... The DFW Connector project, which completed four and half years ago and links 121, 114, and 635 North of DFW airport, has NEVER had working lights. Perhaps the fact that they couldn't go with their standard high-mast lighting due to airport proximity made the lighting more 'complex' than it ...

electricron

Lol well that took an unexpected turn. But yes, holiday trains are dumb. Particularly if they're thought of as a ridership driver. Real-talk though, the unwillingness of US transit operators to look overseas for best practices (real, operational best practices, not these kind of gimmicks) is a sign...

electricron

Every holiday season, the CTA has a holiday train that runs on different lines up until Christmas that has a Santa car and an elves workshop car. It would be cool to see DART do something similar to help boost some holiday season ridership "Today the cost to the CTA to run the train is minimal...

electricron

gawh The only reasonable answer to this deal is another 20 gates, 12 domestic and 8 international. DFW can at least add another terminal and encourage the development of a dual hub, Love Field can double and add international, and Meacham Field in Fort Worth can get going again --- the regional gro...

electricron

OMG, duh We couldn't possibly collect taxes to pay for what is necessary, could we? It's great that Texans have a very low overall tax burden, but truth be told, it's too low. Top notch infrastructure and public education are requirements for indefinite economic and quality of life growth. State le...

electricron

IMO... The whole "1/4 mile" threshold needs to be reconsidered. DART tries to get service to as many people in the service area based on being within 1/4 mile of a bus stop. Because of how spread out many areas of the service are is, you end up thinning out your service to provide 'more' ...

electricron

One size doesn't fit everywhere, and the multitudes of transit agencies in and around DFW metroplex prove it. Each has its own revenues sources from different taxes, different allocations, and different rates. Each does its' very best to maximize the services provided while retaining a balanced budg...

electricron

Despite Mass Transit Push, Ridership Continues to Lag The amount of people using DCTA trains and buses is lower by 17%. A new CEO is in place as of recent weeks. He wants to find solutions, which may end up including lower fares. https://www.dcta.net/ https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Despite-Mass-...

electricron

Too many NIMBYs in the "rich" area would never allow such an extension. On another hand, the Katy Trail should be re-purposed as a commuter rail route that could serve the neighborhoods. I believe there's a federal clause that says rails to trails can always be returned to rail service if...

electricron

Why do anti-transit people not realized that an EFFECTIVE public transit system will benefit them in their Tahoes and Suburbans too? It seems like Dallas will keep adding people, but there will be a breaking point on how many personal automobiles the city can add. Do you want total gridlock? Anothe...

electricron

Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly are the advantages of heavy rail over light rail? I'm trying to remember how the PR campaign 'illuminated' the light rail advantages back in the day, but that dose of advertising slips my mind. Something along the lines of quieter, more reliable and zippier sta...

electricron

tamtagon wrote:A law that says the state is forbidden from contributing to HSR construction is political maneuvering plain and simple.

Sure it is, but what else do you expect politicians to do but play at politics?

If and when the majority of legislators want TXDOT to invest in HSR, they will change the law.

electricron

Texas has had plenty of laws put in place only to have them removed in the daylight of reality. Every legislature can rewrite the laws of Texas every two years. That's true of every democracy. Nothing is set in stone. Even the US Constitution can be amended as the needs arise, as long as you got a ...

electricron

While the state has studied expanding intercity passenger rail service in Texas, it has yet to commit any funding for them. In fact, in just the last session the Texas Legislature passed laws prohibiting TXDOT funding HSR. Per https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Texas-lawmakers-didn-t-sto...

electricron

It's hard for me to think about the Dallas to Houston trains without including the rest of the triangle, so.... I'm okay with a state funding contribution to get San Antonio and Austin hooked-up. Neither probably has the traffic potential yet, and are too far apart (distance and existence) for a co...

electricron

While I am really happy that DFW is now connected to both cities, still a little bummed they couldn't figure out the engineering needed to make the trains pull in through the same station. We need to make public transport more convenient. Even if they pulled into the same station, they could not sh...

electricron

10 years is also a long time where we could have had a better rail system serving Love Field directly. Again, the tunnel to the airport would not have increased the total amount of federal dollars that were already awarded to the Green Line project. It's disingenuous to suggest otherwise. The local...

electricron

As you can probably tell I'm still not over this :P It just seems so shortsighted and even cruel to deny the city such a key connection, especially when they raised the funds and didn't ask for more federal money. One can only wonder if the same result would've occurred under another administration...

electricron

I agree, that would be ideal, but I think it would be over double the length of the "spur" idea and prohibitively expensive. With the spur, it's about the same amount of digging as a people mover but of course would likely cost more to lay rail than lay a moving sidewalk. However, the cos...

electricron

I think in that case it would make more sense to just reroute both the orange and green lines through Love Field to a subway station underneath the terminal as was originally envisioned, before returning to the surface and connecting to the current Burbank and Inwood stations at the northern and so...

electricron

Idea dump..... if they are exploring digging underground for a people mover to connect the terminal to the DART Orange Line..... why not just create it as a single track "spur" off of the Orange Line where a train spurs off from somewhere to the orange line underground to the terminal, dr...

electricron

I really wish the stretch of Addison along Belt Line rd were more walkable. Addison is kinda the 'anti-urban' suburb. It seems that they are built around the automobile and have little interest in getting away from that. I know some may say that its because they don't have rail, but I don't buy tha...

electricron

What a terrible thing to suggest, having more victims to prey upon doesn’t increase crime. Having more greedy criminals is the major reason for increasing crime rates, imho.

electricron

It wasn’t until 1961 with the opening of Thorton Freeway (I-30) before US-67 and interstate trucking traffic left Gaston. Can you imagine all those semi trucks using Stemmons to get through Dallas today on Gaston instead? That’s where they were before 1961. That would be like US 75 traffic still ha...

electricron

It wasn’t until 1961 with the opening of Thorton Freeway (I-30) before US-67 and interstate trucking traffic left Gaston. Can you imagine all those semi trucks using Stemmons to get through Dallas today on Gaston instead? That’s where they were before 1961. The Bankhead Highway was also routed over ...

electricron

Why did the residents not want the stations? Were they scared people would ride it, break into their homes and steal their TVs? Probably a combo-meal of that, and also that neighborhood thinks there is a loud-noise factor with the train operation as well. Maybe both suggestions are correct somewhat...

electricron

Both Preston and Coit stations have been “deferred”, sort of a mix between delayed and cancelled. Which means DART has no intentions to build these stations anytime soon, but like Lake Highlands they could be built later without much ado because the EIS has already been performed on them. So the onl...

electricron

Greenville Avenue isn’t that far away from North Central Expressway by car, but it is by foot. Dallas as it exists today is built around the car. I would suggest even a light rail station located over Greenville Avenue wouldn’t serve all of the possible destinations on it. To service it effectively,...

electricron

Streetcars haven't been built in Dallas to serve commuters as much as to serve developers - improving real estate values. Some will suggest DART built the light rail lines in the wrong places, but not from me. Every single line parallels a heavily used freeway, at least in part, although the distanc...

electricron

Tunneling a moving sidewalk from the terminal to the train station and SW HQ would be the quickest route, but I still prefer an elevated people mover. Elevated with big windows so people get a good look at the Dallas Skyline, whooped around the runway with a Mockingbird @ Denton Drive so that retai...

electricron

Can anyone build 40 miles of streetcar lines for just $1 Billion? You would have to average $25 Million per mile to do so, including the costs associated with buying the streetcar vehicles themselves and building an entirely new maintenance facility or expanding DART’s existing light rail maintenanc...

electricron

They wouldnt even have to get rid of those massive embankments but instead simply plant tons of trees on those to make them more appealing and only rework the ones close to access points to the "lake" or near prime real estate areas. That is the option that should be pursued. Wow, if they...

electricron

You’re not going to be able to eliminate all street traffic off Bryan. To the north you have the over $100 million Plaza of the America’s complex with two 25 story and a third 26 story towers, with a historic 13 story atrium. To the south you have the “historic” Dallas High School now being used by ...

electricron

Yes, it could be done - but DART would have to add crossovers and pocket track near or at the stations they would turn around at. There are already Orange Line trains that only run up the Red Line to LBJ Central station and stop, and come back through downtown as 'Out of Service'. Operationally, it...

electricron

Is there any evidence that adding a people mover is going to increase usage? I'm not even talking about increasing it enough to justify the cost -- that's beyond pie-in-the-sky. Let's be realistic: how many people are there really who don't rider DART to Love Field now that would start just because...

electricron

A good public transport link would reduce the amount of Uber/Lyft cars going in and out of the airport. Just saying!!! Which is why building the people mover system to Burbank and SW Headquarters makes sense. SW employees can either park out there or ride DART and then take the people mover to the ...

electricron

A good public transport link would reduce the amount of Uber/Lyft cars going in and out of the airport. Just saying!!! Which is why building the people mover system to Burbank and SW Headquarters makes sense. SW employees can either park out there or ride DART and then take the people mover to the ...

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