Idea: DART Northeast Dallas line

[NThomas]

I think DART should look into a future light rail line East of White Rock Lake from Fair Park through northeast Dallas, the heart of Garland, with a terminus in Rowlett via the Blue Line extension. Even with the build out of the light rail system in the 2030 plan, these neighborhoods East of White Rock Lake won't be severed with light rail. The closest lines will be the Scyene Road extension south of I-30 and the existing Blue Line.



I didn't choose Garland Road because of White Rock Lake. The lack of houses on both sides of Garland Road near the lake is IMO would be better served by the density of riders on both sides of Ferguson Road. Also, Centerville Road helps to extend the line into Garland where the would be near just as many houses (and riders).



Instead of focusing on abandoned freight ROWs, similar to the existing light rail lines, this "Northeast Line" would be similar to the old streetcar suburb (wiki article) lines. An existing example here in Dallas is the Blue Line between Illinois Station and Ledbetter Station where it runs down the median of Lancaster Road.



It's not perfect, the location of some stations would need to be changed, but the overall route, and frequency of stations are (in my opinion), pretty close to what I was shooting for. A line similar to what we would have seen for a streetcar suburb (the length of the line would justify light rail instead).

[dfwcre8tive]

I've thought the same thing lately. At first I thought a LRT rail line would start in the same place, where you have it bordering Fair Park. But I think a commuter rail line (something like DCTA) would work better in this area. It would connect many existing transit lines to each other while also providing express service to downtown.

Here's a map I created. Not saying your ideas are bad; this is just another one. I don't know technically which would have more ridership at a lower cost.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en...,0.154324&z=13

[NThomas]

I've thought the same thing lately. At first I thought a LRT rail line would start in the same place, where you have it bordering Fair Park. But I think a commuter rail line (something like DCTA) would work better in this area. It would connect many existing transit lines to each other while also providing express service to downtown.

Here's a map I created. Not saying your ideas are bad; this is just another one. I don't know technically which would have more ridership at a lower cost.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en...,0.154324&z=13

I wouldn't mind seeing that one either! I was shooting for light rail though. Didn't even think about commuter rail for east Dallas in on that ROW you have.

[electricron]

Both are excellent proposals. Centerville Road would have to be light rail or streetcar, I don't think the City would tolerate commuter rail in a city street. Commuter rail or light rail could work on the ex-Santa Fe Corridor that parallels Garland Road on the south. I like using the rail corridor north east of Fair Park for light rail vs using UP mainline for one main reason, you avoid having to negotiate with UP for the use of their very busy freight corridor.
There is a problem using the ex-railroad corridor, which per chance is owned by DART already almost all the way to LBJ Freeway. Note the Santa Fe Trail is being built in the corridor west of White Rock Creek. The problem is that DART a long time ago (1980s or 1990s) promised the City they wouldn't build any rail transit on this corridor east of White Rock Creek. The neighborhoods of this rail corridor at the time were strongly against any passenger trains. It wasn't difficult for DART to make this promise either, there is not much density near the tracks. DART also had another rail corridor in ownership they could use to run trains to Garland on.
I think it might be possible to build a streetcar line into these neighborhoods in the future, but I believe the past DART promise prevents DART from seriously studying light rail or commuter rain. DART has always shy away from building light rail in exclusively residential neighborhoods. The light rail lines may border some residential neighborhoods as they snake through Dallas, but if you take a second look where they run you'll see mostly commercial and industrial properties bordering the rail corridors. This line through East Dallas has few non-residential properties.
I also expect transit agencies and local governments to keep their promises. DART should wait for East Dallas to be screaming for light rail before considering using this rail corridor. Also, with the Santa Fe trail west of White Rock Creek almost complete, I would welcome its extension as far east as possible on this corridor instead. Multimodal transit means bikes too.