1st impression of DART LRT from a DC resident

[brady]

So I came back to the D/FW area (grew up in Colleyville) for the xmas holidays. I've been living in Arlington, VA close to DC now for 1.5 years. I happened to ride the rail from Mockingbird to Cityplace station to catch the Cotton Bowl shuttle on New Year's day. I was impressed with the trains and Cityplace station. The station seemed to be pretty well layed out and plenty of DART people were there to direct us (Aggies) to the buses.

The one thing I still don't see a lot of in downtown is development along train corridors. Downtown Dallas still seems dead with lots of parking lots and not a lot of people walking around. I hear a lot about lofts downtown, but are they selling well and is retail supposedly improving?

I think the fact the Dallas has multipolar work centers is also a problem. Even in the DC area we have that problem with suburban office complexes in Northern Virginia.

Any thoughts?

-Brady

A site similiar to this for the DC area is www.beyonddc.com

[brady]

I should add the the only place in Dallas that seems to have rapid high rise living development is Uptown, and none of the plans I've seen are adding DART service to Uptown. Maybe it's the MATA thing, but I don't thing having a separate transit system just for that area is the right way to do it, especially if you want Uptown to be connected to the rest of the DART system without a big hassle (transferring).

[X Factor]

Yeah, uptown is rapidly growing, and now is the time when DART should be laying lines so things build around DART not the other way around. Cause in the end the longer they wait the more expensive everything becomes.

[newyorkrunaway1]

What you may have heard about is the Uptown area with the lofts and high rise living. DART isn't up that way yet though, will be soon enough. Can't wait to see how they menuvre (sorry, can't spell,lol) the tracks around that area. I hear protesting in the air if they decide to do so. The uptown people dont want the noise or the drop in land value.

[texman]

DART or any mass transit doesnt cause a drop in land value, thats just a myth. It actually helps land value and I dont think uptown would be opposed to it. Heck, their building an environment for it.

[saxman66]

DART or any mass transit doesnt cause a drop in land value, thats just a myth. It actually helps land value and I dont think uptown would be opposed to it. Heck, their building an environment for it.

Thats true. Lots of rail critics say the opposite, but how come the studies say otherwise? I guess most poeple think, a rail line brings dirtyness, noise, and crime, because thats' what's displayed in Hollywood. Or you see frieght tracks and all you see is people trashy backyards. I'd like to see more subway in the uptown and downtown areas, as mentioned on other threads. It may be more expensive, but worth it considering future development.

Chris