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View a Printer-Friendly D2 News Issue 2, Spring 2008 (5.0MB PDF file, opens in a new window) En Español |
D2 Study Hits Major Milestone
Downtown Transit Alignments Considered for Detailed Evaluation
As part of its public involvement program for the D2 Study, DART established four (4) advisory committees to provide the study team with guidance throughout the process. The program includes technical, stakeholder, community, and policy advisory committees, each of whose objectives are listed below.
Ernie Martinez, DART's D2 Study project manager, has been pleased with the group's interest and participation, especially with the committee results. "We have a process we go through on all corridor studies. On each of these," he said, "there are instances when other parties - individuals not on the study team - are the 'experts'. For example, no one knows more about where utility conflicts with potential alternatives are than AT&T, Oncor, and City of Dallas utility staff. We also rely on the City's Public Works and Transportation Department to tell us which of the City's thoroughfares are critically important to them or are 'off limits.'"
Input that is just as vital is that of major stakeholders, whose representatives are in many cases non-elected, community leaders. These individuals are typically busy people with time constraints that limit their ability to participate in regular meetings of a non-critical nature. Rather than leave the involvement of these organizations to chance, DART established a committee exclusively for these organizations, and sought out their participation. The selection process consisted of establishing criteria and ranking organizations - some aspects of random selection where appropriate - and, when possible, selecting individuals that officially represented a number of like organizations.
"Who better to suggest which major transit corridor alignments we should consider than representatives of 50 to 70-story office buildings that have thousands of employees, parking garage access issues, pedestrian tunnel issues, as well as numerous small businesses officing there" stated Martinez.
The DART D2 Community Advisory Committee serves as a surrogate for the general public, DART riders, and downtown residents. A few of the participants are also fairly knowledgeable about transit issues. "This group has provided us with guidance on establishing evaluation criteria for our screening process and a sense for which corridors are preferred by downtown residents. They serve as a barometer for what we can expect to hear at public meetings," said Martinez, "enabling us to develop a much more targeted and effective presentation."
