JaeTex
22 July 2002, 05:07 PM
I have to say I disagree with plan to reduce one-way streets, it's too car-centric an idea, would not improve flow, and besides it's not the oone-way streets that might make DT difficult to navigate, but the fact that they aren't always predictable.
I'm sure you all saw this, but...
"World-class cities have great downtowns, and one of the ways that they get them is by making it easy and cheap to get around. They build great transportation networks – rail and bus systems that conveniently and inexpensively carry people between homes, offices, parks, shopping areas, hotels, airports and entertainment centers. They knit their best parts into a coherent, accessible and pleasing whole. New York and Chicago are examples of cities that made themselves world class in large measure because they invested wisely in transportation.
Dallas does not have a great urban transportation infrastructure – yet. As a result, its downtown is still a work in progress. But it has the beginnings of an outstanding framework. We need only the will to do more.
Ten years ago, there was no light rail system. There was no Trinity Railway Express connection to Irving, Hurst, Richland Hills and Fort Worth. There were no stylish bus transfer centers on the western and eastern ends of downtown. There were many more buses, and most of them were the foul, smoke-belching kind that asphyxiate passersby. The McKinney Avenue Trolley was more toy than serious transportation mode.
Today, Dallas has a modern, efficient and popular light-rail system that is the envy of the Southwest, with 36 miles of track (44 miles expected by the end of the year) and six downtown stations. It has the Trinity Railway Express, a partnership of Dallas Area Rapid Transit and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority. It has fewer loud and obtrusive buses to annoy downtown pedestrians, and a high percentage of them are low-emission vehicles. It has the bus transfer stations to attract passengers and smooth traffic. The McKinney Avenue Trolley has evolved from an all-volunteer pastime for streetcar enthusiasts to a professional transit authority with the potential to become an important driver of downtown's rebirth.
All of this gives downtown a terrifically solid foundation. Where it goes from here depends much on separate transportation studies by City Hall and Dallas Area Rapid Transit. But even without the studies, both of which should be finished next year, city and regional transportation planners agree on several key points:
As Dallas Area Rapid Transit's light rail system expands, and as ridership increases, there will have to be a second rail line through downtown to ease congestion on the original.
There will have to be some kind of an attractive and user-friendly circulator system to carry people among what one might call downtown's disjointed islands of entertainment and culture – the Arts District, the West End, Main Street, the Convention Center, among other possible destinations. The circulator system would unite the islands much as ferries unite the Greek archipelago.
Buses must be banned from Main Street, the centerpiece of efforts to return retail businesses to downtown. As Assistant City Manager Jill Jordan observed, "It's hard to create a series of sidewalk cafes and sip chardonnay when you're getting hit by diesel fumes."
Downtown's profusion of one-way streets must be reduced to make it easier for motorists to move from point to point.
With that, many key questions remain:
What route should the second rail line take? Planners are focusing on several routes that run east and west like the original alignment runs north and south. Under consideration are a subway beneath the existing transit mall on Pacific or under Elm Street, a couplet system that would run east on Wood Street and west on Jackson, and a more southern route by the Dallas Convention Center and down Griffin Street. A surface line on the Wood and Jackson couplet appears to make the most sense. It is close enough to the center of downtown to benefit retail development and could serve the City Hall and Convention Center as well.
Should the second rail line be a subway? While a subway would not disrupt downtown traffic, the costs could be prohibitive. DART officials say there would be insufficient funds to build the important rail line to Dallas Love Field if the second downtown line is underground.
If the second rail line is on the surface, should downtown traffic lights be coordinated to make the train move faster? Better coordination of all traffic lights, including those that help the trains move through downtown, is imperative. With a second line, trains should be separated enough to travel the downtown route with a minimum of stops.
Should the circulator system be something like the antique-looking "rubber wheel trolley" buses, or should the McKinney Avenue Trolley lines be expanded to serve that function? Expansion of the McKinney Avenue Trolley into downtown is a worthwhile goal that is being pursued. But an effective downtown circulator system is needed right now. DART should move quickly to develop a more effective rubber wheel trolley system that serves all the key areas. Rides should be free or at a nominal cost. The routes should be well publicized, the routes should not change, and the vehicles should be easy to identify.
City Hall and Dallas Area Rapid Transit should coordinate their studies. Doing otherwise invites confusion. Each needs to have a good sense of the other's intentions.
That is particularly true in the case of the second rail line route. By virtue of its being much cheaper to build than a subway, a surface rail line would leave money for more stations and significant surface-level public parks and plazas built by DART. A ground-level rail line also would generate more activity on downtown streets. Its biggest drawback is that it would obstruct motor vehicles. Transportation planners should keep in mind that building on the surface would not preclude going underground in the future.
The McKinney Avenue Trolley can be a part of the downtown circulator system in the future. It is distinctive and user friendly. And since it opened its northern extension to Cityplace and became a free service in June, it has become much more popular. Average daily ridership is more than quadruple what it was in April.
But the trolley probably will have to scale back its plans for an extension to the West End because it had to absorb the costs of relocating underground utilities on the northern extension and will have to do the same on the southern extension and wherever else it expands.
The McKinney Avenue Trolley Authority and DART should seriously consider a formal partnership that would allow the authority to complete the entire southern extension as originally envisaged.
But the more pressing issue for Dallas Area Rapid Transit is to stop switching around the route of the rubber wheel trolley buses. It has moved the route so often that many people have difficulty finding it. And it should do more to advertise the underused route on a consistent basis.
Dallas has three "flow" problems: getting from downtown to outlying areas, getting across town between the City Hall side and the Arts District side, and getting around town between Cityplace and the Convention Center. Dallas won't be world class without a pulsating downtown, and it won't have a pulsating downtown without good transportation. The foundation is laid. Let's build on that."
I'm sure you all saw this, but...
"World-class cities have great downtowns, and one of the ways that they get them is by making it easy and cheap to get around. They build great transportation networks – rail and bus systems that conveniently and inexpensively carry people between homes, offices, parks, shopping areas, hotels, airports and entertainment centers. They knit their best parts into a coherent, accessible and pleasing whole. New York and Chicago are examples of cities that made themselves world class in large measure because they invested wisely in transportation.
Dallas does not have a great urban transportation infrastructure – yet. As a result, its downtown is still a work in progress. But it has the beginnings of an outstanding framework. We need only the will to do more.
Ten years ago, there was no light rail system. There was no Trinity Railway Express connection to Irving, Hurst, Richland Hills and Fort Worth. There were no stylish bus transfer centers on the western and eastern ends of downtown. There were many more buses, and most of them were the foul, smoke-belching kind that asphyxiate passersby. The McKinney Avenue Trolley was more toy than serious transportation mode.
Today, Dallas has a modern, efficient and popular light-rail system that is the envy of the Southwest, with 36 miles of track (44 miles expected by the end of the year) and six downtown stations. It has the Trinity Railway Express, a partnership of Dallas Area Rapid Transit and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority. It has fewer loud and obtrusive buses to annoy downtown pedestrians, and a high percentage of them are low-emission vehicles. It has the bus transfer stations to attract passengers and smooth traffic. The McKinney Avenue Trolley has evolved from an all-volunteer pastime for streetcar enthusiasts to a professional transit authority with the potential to become an important driver of downtown's rebirth.
All of this gives downtown a terrifically solid foundation. Where it goes from here depends much on separate transportation studies by City Hall and Dallas Area Rapid Transit. But even without the studies, both of which should be finished next year, city and regional transportation planners agree on several key points:
As Dallas Area Rapid Transit's light rail system expands, and as ridership increases, there will have to be a second rail line through downtown to ease congestion on the original.
There will have to be some kind of an attractive and user-friendly circulator system to carry people among what one might call downtown's disjointed islands of entertainment and culture – the Arts District, the West End, Main Street, the Convention Center, among other possible destinations. The circulator system would unite the islands much as ferries unite the Greek archipelago.
Buses must be banned from Main Street, the centerpiece of efforts to return retail businesses to downtown. As Assistant City Manager Jill Jordan observed, "It's hard to create a series of sidewalk cafes and sip chardonnay when you're getting hit by diesel fumes."
Downtown's profusion of one-way streets must be reduced to make it easier for motorists to move from point to point.
With that, many key questions remain:
What route should the second rail line take? Planners are focusing on several routes that run east and west like the original alignment runs north and south. Under consideration are a subway beneath the existing transit mall on Pacific or under Elm Street, a couplet system that would run east on Wood Street and west on Jackson, and a more southern route by the Dallas Convention Center and down Griffin Street. A surface line on the Wood and Jackson couplet appears to make the most sense. It is close enough to the center of downtown to benefit retail development and could serve the City Hall and Convention Center as well.
Should the second rail line be a subway? While a subway would not disrupt downtown traffic, the costs could be prohibitive. DART officials say there would be insufficient funds to build the important rail line to Dallas Love Field if the second downtown line is underground.
If the second rail line is on the surface, should downtown traffic lights be coordinated to make the train move faster? Better coordination of all traffic lights, including those that help the trains move through downtown, is imperative. With a second line, trains should be separated enough to travel the downtown route with a minimum of stops.
Should the circulator system be something like the antique-looking "rubber wheel trolley" buses, or should the McKinney Avenue Trolley lines be expanded to serve that function? Expansion of the McKinney Avenue Trolley into downtown is a worthwhile goal that is being pursued. But an effective downtown circulator system is needed right now. DART should move quickly to develop a more effective rubber wheel trolley system that serves all the key areas. Rides should be free or at a nominal cost. The routes should be well publicized, the routes should not change, and the vehicles should be easy to identify.
City Hall and Dallas Area Rapid Transit should coordinate their studies. Doing otherwise invites confusion. Each needs to have a good sense of the other's intentions.
That is particularly true in the case of the second rail line route. By virtue of its being much cheaper to build than a subway, a surface rail line would leave money for more stations and significant surface-level public parks and plazas built by DART. A ground-level rail line also would generate more activity on downtown streets. Its biggest drawback is that it would obstruct motor vehicles. Transportation planners should keep in mind that building on the surface would not preclude going underground in the future.
The McKinney Avenue Trolley can be a part of the downtown circulator system in the future. It is distinctive and user friendly. And since it opened its northern extension to Cityplace and became a free service in June, it has become much more popular. Average daily ridership is more than quadruple what it was in April.
But the trolley probably will have to scale back its plans for an extension to the West End because it had to absorb the costs of relocating underground utilities on the northern extension and will have to do the same on the southern extension and wherever else it expands.
The McKinney Avenue Trolley Authority and DART should seriously consider a formal partnership that would allow the authority to complete the entire southern extension as originally envisaged.
But the more pressing issue for Dallas Area Rapid Transit is to stop switching around the route of the rubber wheel trolley buses. It has moved the route so often that many people have difficulty finding it. And it should do more to advertise the underused route on a consistent basis.
Dallas has three "flow" problems: getting from downtown to outlying areas, getting across town between the City Hall side and the Arts District side, and getting around town between Cityplace and the Convention Center. Dallas won't be world class without a pulsating downtown, and it won't have a pulsating downtown without good transportation. The foundation is laid. Let's build on that."