 the offical newsletter of DALLAS AREA RAPID TRANSIT - Spring 2008 |
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eelam@DART.org
Every year at DART sets its own unique tempo, and 2008 is shaping up to be one of the busiest and most dynamic years in our history as we expand the transit lifestyle to more North Texans.
We're making tremendous progress on the Green Line that will create new connections from Southeast Dallas to downtown and up the Stemmons corridor to Farmers Branch and Carrollton. Excitement is building in neighborhoods and business centers as frenetic construction sites begin to look like rail stations. There's still much to be done, but the opening of service to Fair Park in September 2009 doesn't seem very far away now.
Meanwhile, the cost of our next rail expansion phase - the Orange Line to North Irving and a Blue Line extension to Rowlett - has escalated with a worldwide construction boom and a shortage of materials and services. So we've joined hands with city officials to come up with alternative construction and financing strategies to keep projects on track and maintain our momentum.
As always, we're working to increase ridership, capacity and efficiency throughout our multimodal system. The first quarter of FY 2008 showed a slight increase in total ridership, and we're expecting those numbers to increase with the recent opening of 32 new miles of HOV lanes. We're also making plans to replace our bus fleet with the cleanest and safest vehicles available. And we're enhancing security to make sure our customers get to their destinations safely and comfortably - both now and as our system grows.
We're on a fast-paced, exciting ride into the future. Glad you're on board with us.
Randall D. Chrisman
DART Chairman of the Board
The Ambrose retail and apartments rise alongside Baylor Station.
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