Short Trips

Strauss Elected DART Board Chair

Robert W. Strauss, a partner at the Dallas-based law firm of Strasburger & Price, LLP, has been elected chairman of the DART Board of Directors.

Appointed in 2006 by the Dallas City Council, Strauss has served as vice chairman of the DART Board and chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee. He holds a Master of Laws from New York University, a law degree from Brooklyn Law School, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queens College, City University of New York.

Faye Moses Wilkins, who represents Plano and Farmers Branch, was elected vice chairman. Dallas representative Richard Carrizales was elected secretary. Gary Slagel, who represents Richardson, Addison, Highland Park and University Park, was elected assistant secretary. Board officers serve one-year terms.

Active seniors explored how transit can transport them to more learning experiences.

Seniors Become Rail Scholars

In October, DART Community Affairs guided a group of savvy senior citizens from Brookhaven College's Students 50+ Education Program on a multimodal trip from Farmers Branch to Denton. DART partnered with the college to demonstrate the ease of navigating the regional transit system.

The lifelong learners rode DART's Green Line to Trinity Mills Station, transferred to the Denton County Transportation Authority A-train, and then took DCTA�s UNT Shuttle bus to campus.

Once at the University of North Texas, the group learned about the Emeritus College, which - like Brookhaven's program - provides educational, travel and social opportunities for adults 50+ that keep them intellectually stimulated and physically active.

Mansoor Ahsan, P.E., CEO of Bridgefarmer & Associates, and DART President/Executive Director Gary Thomas celebrate the Orange Line's award-winning design.

Rail and Road Projects Garner Honors

DART contractor Bridgefarmer & Associates, Inc. earned the 2013 Engineering Excellence Award Gold Medal in Transportation by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Texas, and a National Recognition Award in the ACEC "Engineering Excellence Awards" competition for its design work on the DART Orange Line and the Loop 12/SH 114 Highway Interchange.

Building the Orange Line through University of Dallas Station was complicated by the simultaneous construction of the four-level interchange taking place in the same corridor. Bridgefarmer, which also worked for the Texas Department of Transportation, made sure the two projects worked in harmony. The interchange was the first in Texas to integrate a light rail track and station with a state highway, and the attached bike-and-hike bridge makes it a truly multimodal transportation facility.

Learn more about the Loop 12 / SH 114 Highway Interchange project:
www.bridgefarmer.com

The Junction 15 development is located at the corner of 15th Street and Avenue I across from Haggard Park.

Tracking Progress

Junction 15 Promotes Rail Living

For the future residents of Junction 15, a mixed-use apartment community located a block from the Downtown Plano Station, proximity to transit, dining and shopping may be the most prominent amenity.

Scheduled to open in late spring 2014, the five-story development will include 279 apartments and more than 7,800 square feet of ground floor retail space, anchored by a 7-Eleven store. Plano Police will house vehicles on the first floor of the adjacent parking garage.

The $37 million project is a public-private partnership between the city and Southern Land Company, a multifaceted real estate development company based in Franklin, Tenn. Junction 15 is being developed to address the city's growing demand for transit-accessible urban housing.

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