DART Rail Green Line through Dallas’ Deep Ellum district heading into final stretch

by PegNews wire

DALLAS — Bolstered by the receipt of $78.4 million in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the Green Line rail project of Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is headed for an on-time and on-budget arrival at four new stations on September 14, 2009.

The first section of the $1.8 billion Green Line will extend from Pearl Station on the east side of Downtown Dallas to Deep Ellum Station, Baylor University Medical Center Station, Fair Park Station (at the intersection of Parry and Exposition), and the MLK, Jr. Station adjacent to the J. B. Jackson Jr. Transit Center on the east side of Fair Park. It restores rail service to a neighborhood that 50 years ago was home to up to four rail lines. Daily service to Victory Station will also begin September 14.

The remaining 25 miles of the Green Line, scheduled to open in December 2010, will extend southeast to Pleasant Grove and northwest from Victory Station to the Dallas Market Center, the Southwestern Medical District, Love Field Airport and downtown Farmers Branch and Carrollton. Construction of the Green Line, the longest light rail project under construction in North America, has produced more than 2,200 construction jobs.

Major funding for the Green Line comes from a $700-million Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) from the Federal Transit Administration. The FFGA was first awarded in July 2006 at the start of Green Line construction. The funds awarded under the ARRA are part of DART's FFGA.

DART Rail doubling

Construction is also underway on the first nine miles of a new Orange Line that will branch from the Green Line in northwest Dallas to serve the city of Irving in 2011. The line will be extended to DFW International Airport by 2013. DART also is building a five-mile extension of the Blue Line from Garland to Rowlett that will open in 2012.

These lines are earning national attention as well. The Orange Line is among the first projects slated to receive funds - more than $61 million - under the ARRA. Altogether, the Green, Orange and Blue line projects are expected to add 60,000 weekday passenger trips, nearly doubling ridership on the DART Rail System.

Source: DART

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Jason Rice, says:

Is this the "Public Version" of this

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6 months, 1 week ago
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alexander troup, says:

Well they have the rail almost done,while it is late for the old Elm area and Fair Park, but then again..it could be the revivial of these two areas that have been just empty for over 5 years now...

The line travels through the old freight track that came out of Fair Park and I recall seeing the Circus years ago, parked in the Elm area after leaving Fair Park...

Good story,lets see more of this event ...A/T..The line to Deep Elm is a line of blues and reds..

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Rawlins Gilliland, says:

FYI The reason this is called the 'Green Line' has zero to do with Fair Park and Deep Ellum and everything to do with its path through the eastern side of the Trinity Forest, it's Northern path along Scyene Rd on South parallel to Jim Miller Rd. past the Keeton Golf Course, ending in Pleasant Grove on Lake June.

The project has wrecked hugely the trails in my part of the Forest. It has lasted longer than a Michael Irwin legal issue or a pre-teen elephant's pregnacy. I've learned to hate DART through the building process but I will love the finished product with three stations surrounding me.