Dallas welcomes a new era in transportation

It's been a long time coming and costly, no doubt. Since voters agreed to raise taxes by a single penny 26 years ago, the residents of Dallas and 12 nearby cities - many still without rail service - have paid about $5 billion in local sales taxes toward Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART).
The payoff starts today with the official start-up of the opening segment of DART's new Green Line, the longest expansion of light rail in North America. The $1.8 billion Green Line is the beginning of an effort to double riders and the length of the system, triggering four years of growth that by 2013 will double daily rail riders and double the length of a DART rail network.
The new stations that will open just ahead of the State Fair of Texas will attract fewer than 2,000 round-trip riders per day in the first couple of years. But over the next 15 months, the four stations east of downtown will be followed by 16 more along the 28-mile Green Line, stringing communities together from as far north as Carrollton to as far south as Pleasant Grove.
By 2013, DART will have spent $3.3 billion in construction, adding service to Irving, Las Colinas and D/FW International Airport on the Orange Line. Downtown Rowlett and Lake Highlands will welcome new stations as well on the expanded Blue Line.
The flurry of activity has employed thousands of workers. Within four years it will result in a transit system that runs 48 trains through downtown Dallas every hour - already prompting more frequent red lights. That's 62 rail stations and about 90 miles of track.
"This is the largest light-rail construction project in America," DART president Gary Thomas said. "Nobody is doing what we are doing right now. That's exciting. It really is."
Source: www.dallasmorningnews.com