 the offical newsletter of DALLAS AREA RAPID TRANSIT - DART 25th Anniversary 2008 |
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Short Trips
Laying tracks - fast!
Currently, nearly 2,500 people a day are working feverishly to keep our new Green Line trending ahead of schedule and within budget.Beginning next September, the first segment will link Victory Park, downtown Dallas, Deep Ellum and Fair Park, giving rail riders ready access to some of the city's most important and popular destinations. A little more than a year later, in December 2010, the 28-mile line will be complete with service between Pleasant Grove in far southeast Dallas and North Carrollton with stops at the Dallas Market Center, Southwestern Medical District, Love Field Airport vicinity and Farmers Branch.
Pursuing a new downtown pathway
The pathway for a second DART Rail alignment through downtown Dallas is moving steadily toward a final decision as Dallas business and city leaders, business and property owners, citizens and other interested parties meet with DART officials to weigh the options.
The D2 Study, as it's called, was launched in 2007 to identify a second alignment to help accommodate increased rail traffic and create new connectivity in the Dallas Central Business District. By spring 2008, the options were narrowed to four potential alignments - all in the southern half of the CBD and both incorporating surface and tunnel transit. A final decision is expected by the end of the year.
Poetry to go
DART and Richland College marked the 11th local edition of the national Poetry in Motion program June 17 with the unveiling of a diverse collection of poems by outstanding cometmporary and tradtional poets.The collection, which is being showcased on buses and trains, features Texas poet Joaquin Zihuatanejo, who captures religious influences in the duality of his Chicano culture, and Natasha Carrizosa, whose works spring from her dual heritage of African- and Mexican-American.
Poems by Dallas' own Martha Heimberg and Jerry McElveen also are included in this series, along with traditional poems "Jenny Kiss'd Me" and Anne Bradstreet's "To My Dear and Loving Husband."
Hop aboard for a truly lyrical ride, or find the new collection at www.DART.org/Poetry.
New life for historic maintenance shopThe Monroe Shops at Illinois Station has long been recognized as a historic treasure, but efforts to redevelop it for retail or other transit-oriented uses have been unsuccessful, and the maintenance facility for yesteryear's Texas
Interurban Railway has been vacant for years. That will change in 2010 when the circa-1914 structure is slated to become the new home of DART's growing police force. The DART Police Department currently has an authorized force of 200 sworn officers and 70 civilian employees.Security at the push of a button
Regular light rail riders may have noticed a new amenity at DART Rail stations: Passenger Emergency Call (PEC) units, referred to by some as "the new blue phones." The PECs are a big improvement over pay phones of the past - they're more reliable, they're free, and they provide one-button connections to DART Customer Service and to 911 in an emergency. In addition to the DART Rail stations, PECs will be installed at commuter rail stations on the Dallas side of the Trinity Railway Express.
Rolling out the virtual welcome mat
Bet you wouldn't have guessed that most DART customers own cars. Because they have a choice, their first public transit experience can be a deal-maker or a deal-breaker. To help ensure that first trip is a winner, DART recently
launched a new web page geared especially for the newcomer. Accessible by a prominent link on our www.DART.org homepage, the "New Customer Information" page conveniently packages links to scheduling, routing and how-to-ride information by bus and rail, as well as information about special neighborhood shuttles known as DART On-Call, the extensive HOV lane network, and carpool ride-matching service. Welcome aboard!Doing our level best
During the Monday, June 23 morning rush hour, the first of DART's next-generation, higher-capacity light rail vehicles - known as Super Light Rail Vehicles (SLRVs) - officially made their debut.With seating for 100 and nearly double the standing capacity, the new vehicles couldn't be coming at a more welcome time. But beyond accommodating more passengers, these modified wonders feature a low-floor center section that in 2010 will allow passengers with disabilities - plus people with strollers, bicycles and the like - to step or roll directly onto the trains without climbing steps or using mechanical lifts.
The introduction of the SLRVs requires closing existing stations for up to 30 days at a time to raise passenger platforms. Work already is complete on three stations in the Downtown Transit Mall: Pearl, St. Paul and Akard. The project will be complete by the end of 2010 - not coincidentally, at about the same time DART completes the Green Line.
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