Media Relations Contact:
Morgan Lyons

September 27, 2005

$3.3 billion invested

New study: DART Rail drives transit-oriented lifestyle

Economists at The University of North Texas (UNT) say Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is driving more than $3.3 billion in development throughout its 45-mile light rail system serving Dallas, Garland, Richardson and Plano.

"Clearly, DART is helping to stimulate the local economy and to bring new vitality both to the City of Dallas and to the core areas of DART's suburban member cities," said researchers Bernard L. Weinstein and Terry L. Clower, directors of the UNT Center for Economic Development and Research, and authors of a new study measuring the economic impact of DART.

DART President/Executive Director Gary Thomas said the study should be good news for local taxpayers. "The return on investment in the form of transit-oriented development is greater than what taxpayers have spent to build the DART Rail System," he said. "DART is proving to be a significant economic engine for the region, in addition to fulfilling its mission of providing improved mobility and a higher quality of life."

New live-work-play transit-oriented communities are springing up in the cities served by DART light rail. Projects like South Side on Lamar in South Dallas, Mockingbird Station and West Village in North Dallas, Galatyn Park in Richardson and Eastside Village in Plano are attracting national attention from developers and transit agencies looking to bring similar projects to their cities.

Additional research confirms that homebuyers and renters across the country are getting on board. In fact, the number of homebuyers and renters nationwide who want to reside within walking distance of public transportation is expected to more than double in the next 20 years. And the Dallas area will be one of the top cities in the country for such construction. According to the Center for Transit Oriented Development, demand for it will increase here more than any other city besides Los Angeles. With DART preparing to add about two dozen suburban transit stops in its next expansion, the National Association of Realtors predicts that the Dallas area will add 200,000 residential units in transit-oriented development by 2025 - more than a 300 percent increase.

DART is scheduled to begin construction later this year on light rail extensions that will double its 45-mile system by 2013 with an extension to Fair Park, South Dallas and Pleasant Grove; a corridor extending through Northwest Dallas and the cities of Farmers Branch, Carrollton and Irving; and an additional line to DFW International Airport. New real estate projects along those corridors are already under way, ensuring the continued growth in transit-oriented development in North Texas.

Click here to view an Adobe PDF version of the study, The Estimated Value of New Investment Adjacent to DART LRT Stations: 1999-2005.

(The file can be viewed and printed using Adobe's free Acrobat Reader. The free Acrobat Reader may be obtained at the following Internet location: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.)

Note: Additional information about DART's efforts in transit-oriented development is available at www.DART.org/EconomicDevelopment.

-- 30 --