A framed painting of a train hangs behind the heads of DART Board members in the Board Room. The words “MOVING FORWARD” at the bottom of the art capture what the company hopes to have done by 2014.
With new stops being built along the Orange Line in what Dallas Area Rapid Transit is calling its Northwest Corridor, DART shows no signs of slowing in its 14-mile expansion from Bachman Station to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
At a public hearing of the DART Board Tuesday, plans were approved for medical and dental insurance for employees, retirees and their eligible dependents. Board members also agreed on necessary inspections for buses and trains from engine lubricating oils to lift equipment checks.
Fifteen such items were agreed on in less than 10 minutes. The Board then opened the floor to public comments. Even with around 50 audience members present, there were no comments or disagreements.
Parking rates for the Northwest Plano Park and Ride were heard from Todd Plesko, DART vice president of Planning and Development. These, too, were met with no comment.
While there will be fees for those parking there starting at $2 for daily parking and $4 for event parking, there will be no daily parking fee for those displaying a resident parking pass, Plesko said.
Two petitions of support for DART’s use of the Cotton Belt Rail System in Northwest Plano were presented before the meeting adjourned 15 minutes after it began.
Those petitions and the lack of disagreement at public hearings add to the atmosphere of support surrounding DART’s expansion of the new Orange Line. This growth will give the local transit system a total of more than 90 miles of rail when it is completed.
DART Director of Media Relations Morgan Lyons believes there was not much disagreement because the Orange Line links more Dallas area colleges together, including North Lake College and the University of Dallas.
“There’s just a lot of excitement about it,” Lyons said. “SMU has Mockingbird Station. UT Southwestern has Southwestern Medical District/Parkland Station.”
In addition to added transportation options for students, Lyons believes that the Orange Line will help create new jobs as well.
Bonnie Shea, president of the Historic Downtown Plano Association, has already seen the advantages of having the Orange Line travel through Plano.
“DART has been extremely beneficial to the growth of Downtown Plano,” Shea said, “not only to its growth, but to its efficiency.”
The 12th Street Station and Shiloh Road Station also held particular interest to Shea.
“We strongly support the use of the historic railway that is already in place,” she said, referring to the two stops along what is known as the Cotton Belt line.
For all of its benefits, some are concerned about what security upgrades will come with this expansion in light of recent violence along older routes. Along with the DART website, Morgan Lyons anticipates such concerns.
“We modified our deployment plan so that we have a DART officer on every train,” Lyons said, “not every car, but every train. The next step is to complete the installation of surveillance cameras at each station by the end of this month.”
DART has come up with a new safety option for its passengers as well.
“We are working on a text program where if you don’t feel comfortable calling, you can send a text message to DART police by early April,” Lyons said.
With a safer future in mind and the steel secured for the construction of the Orange Line, Lyons marveled at the past, present and future expansion of DART railways.
“It’s great! It really helps us begin to complete the system. We already have the longest light rail system in the country. It’s phenomenal to think of when you consider that there was no passenger rail in Dallas until 1996.”
For more information on DART and its expansion projects, visit http://dart.org/about/expansion/otherprojects.asp.
