GunnerDallas wrote:And vice versa.
Absolutely. If it's easier for us to get there, it's easier for them to get here. The more visitors downtown the better.
I love Dallas, but I also love Fort Worth and my desire to visit is at constant war with the deflating thought of physically getting myself over there and bringing myself back. It makes me wish I lived closer to the airport to split the difference. I'd imagine there are people in Fort Worth who want to visit our parks/restaurants/museums more often but experience the same feeling.
electricron wrote:So NCTCOG is proposing spending around $11 Billion to save around 30 minutes. That's $367 Million per minute saved.
When it comes to funding I think it's important to note a key factor in all this and that's Arlington. They've expressed desire in having this, which means if it
does ever materialize it's only because Arlington actually got on board and is helping to foot the bill. It doesn't happen without them.
I won't pretend to know enough to claim any authority on this but I would imagine triple/quadruple tracking the TRE would be among the most expensive projects DART/TM ever attempted anyways, and that's without an Arlington helping out. Squeezing in an additional 35 mile rail corridor's worth of tracks next to an existing one is a much more intensive process than the double-track retrofitting we have typically done. I'm not saying it wouldn't be cheaper than the proposed HSR with all its tunneling etc, but I think the difference in financial burden for us wouldn't be quite as ginormous of a canyon we'd imagine.
But that's an aside to the real value I see in this over an upgraded TRE which is the addition of an Arlington stop. Just as I want easier access to Fort Worth I want easier access to Arlington as well. It's just another notch in living in downtown Dallas's favor instead of the northern burbs if you can get on a train for a fraction of the Arlington parking cost and get to a cowboys game or a rangers game in no time at all, drink to your hearts content, then ride back.
mhainli wrote:Financially, having the D-FW link obviously increases ridership and viability of the D-H link, as well as providing more riders back and forth within DFW
This really is a pretty critical piece.
When it comes to transportation, friction is
everything, and spending a lot to reduce even a small bit of it pays off in dividends over time.
Without the FW hsr rail leg, if you're in the western half of the metroplex wanting to get to Houston by some means other than driving you honestly might as well get on a plane at DFW instead of hoofing it to downtown Dallas. Some folks will hoof it, but many won't. If you're taking transit you're killing a lot of time just getting to the cedars station then waiting for the transfer to happen. If a ton of these folks choose to drive to the dallas station, and if the dallas station really is meant to serve the entire metropolitan area (which it
has to in order for the line itself to be viable), we have to build enough parking at the station to reflect that reality. But stretching the line to Arlington and Fort Worth provides more access points for more people.