Second subway line in Texas is now "Official"!! (Dallas: appointed, loan)

[dallasboi]

The progress Dallas is achieving these days is simply baffling. I secretly kept my fingers crossed hoping that they choose the D2 alignment with the largest subway portion. And actually for a while it seemed that they had chosen the opposite. My thouhgts were that a subway line downtown would push Dallas into another tier of urban progressive bliss. Which is the very image that Dallas is aggressively aiming for.
I had even become disappointed in the decisions that the city was making in regards to the long awaited D2 line. I had written the chance of Dallas actually getting a downtown subway completely out of my mind to keep from being disappointed any further in the future. Doing that was the only way I would be able to still be happy with the watered down version that they came up with.

However. .........Dallas being the the city that it is... does not settle for second hand. We dug down into our "Let's just get it DONE" spirit and GOT IT DONE!!!

Not only are we getting THE SECOND subway line in Texas; we are also getting the cotton belt line from Plano to DFW airport AT THE SAME TIME!!
They both will be complete in the next 5 to 6 years. How. can ANYONE...I repeat ANYONE argue or deny the progress in Dallas?.....The best Texas City

..sigh!!.....I love this place.

DALLAS TEXAS. ...........BIG THINGS HAPPEN HERE!!!!

DART board greenlights Cotton Belt, downtown Dallas subway - Story | KDFW

[Dallaz]

The Cotton Belt line should have never been approved. There's no proof that there's funding to do both. The D2 line should have been first priority!

[dallasboi]

I agree...but evidently they have some type of plan in place to come up with the funding or they wouldn't have announced a "Green light" for BOTH to happen at once...Whatever it is i'm glad or relieved that both are a go.

[dallasboi]

In the next 5 years DT Dallas is gonna be AWESOME with all of the stuff that u/c or planned to break ground soon. So when that subway opens it will be right on time!!!

[radiolibre99]

How's the COL now? Do you expect the COL to explode like Austin or at least remain relatively great to wages? Right now I like how Dallas has an amazing wage to COL ratio but with the awesome Dallas you expect in five years, do you see it rising like in Austin?

[tcualum]

I hope they're able to pull both of those off.

[Mr. Clutch]

Originally Posted by dallasboi

I agree...but evidently they have some type of plan in place to come up with the funding or they wouldn't have announced a "Green light" for BOTH to happen at once...Whatever it is i'm glad or relieved that both are a go.

They are basing their funding on the assumption that they will get both an FTA grant as well as an FRA loan. The grant process is competitive and there's absolutely no guarantee that DART will receive grant funding at the amount they will need to build this. The loan process is also competitive, but it wouldn't be an issue unless the FRA views the intent to fund both the Cotton Belt and D2 as financially risky enough to put DART's ability to repay the loan into question. That would be a problem, and frankly that is what a lot of people are afraid will happen. That has the potential to delay both lines significantly.

I don't think either line is a game changer, but D2 is obviously a better investment, whether its above or below ground. Given that DART refuses to make a decision, I expect this fight to continue once funding comes into clearer focus. Someone will likely be left out in the cold.

What DART has done is essentially kicked the can down the road by not making a prioritization decision now, but instead essentially letting the feds do it as an output of their loan and grant evaluation processes. If DART doesn't get the money they have requested, they can simply throw their hands in the air and say, "Welp the feds won't fund it, not our fault." - as opposed to setting a project priority now and likely receiving the requested funding for the prioritized project.

I expect both to eventually get built, but I would be shocked if either is done in the next 5 years.

[War Beagle]

Originally Posted by dallasboi

However. .........Dallas being the the city that it is... does not settle for second hand. We dug down into our "Let's just get it DONE" spirit and GOT IT DONE!!!

Dallas will settle for second-hand in at least one area I can think of: controlling feral pit bulls that eat peoples' faces. Dallas and Dallas County do pretty well in the corruption department too.

[happycrow]

Wake me up when Dallas can afford to pave its streets and pay its cops' pension fund. Shiny glamor projects are *still* no substitute for competent government.

[Soonhun]

Addison deserves the rail line. It should be given priority after all these years.