Dallas needs a lively downtown, but that’s not likely without a convenient light rail system because parking down there inhales vigorously.
The transportation system between downtown and Uptown might get a little better with the McKinney Avenue Trolley extension just announced by state Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson.
The Federal Transit Administration’s Urban Circulator Grant Program plans to, well, grant $4.9 million to the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Authority to build a new .65-mile stretch of track and buy streetcars for the McKinney Trolley System, operated by the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority.
DART, in turn, will dole out the funds to MATA — which needs to count the money … twice — so it can “link the current McKinney Trolley to the existing DART light rail St. Paul station and to the McKinney Trolley Olive Street extension in the heart of downtown Dallas,” so says the press release.
Only thing is, when you look at the map you’ll notice the extension comes up about three blocks shy of the St. Paul station, and why not just say that up front?
I hope it all works out as planned and they meet the projected completion date set for late 2012 or early 2013. I’ll believe it when I see it, though.
This is the same mass transit authority, DART, that decided neither of the airports should be on the initial light rail line.
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Bruce Felps owns and operates East Dallas Times, an online community news outlet serving the White Rock Lake area. He takes the train to Dallas Stars games but that’s about it.
