Dallas Must Show Commitment to Regional Transportation With DART Appointments

A little more than 35 years ago, the suburbs bought into this idea that the Dallas area needed a regional transportation system to grow, prosper and compete with other cities internationally. The cities were told we would build a hub-and-spoke system, with the hub in downtown Dallas. Building out from the hub would mean all of the money for light rail for the first 20 years of DART's existence would be spent entirely within Dallas. The suburbs would get connectivity through bus service until the spokes could be built out to them in the future. That was what happened for 20 years and we continued to pay our part and believe in the concept of regional transit.The recent rhetoric in Dallas pitting plans for the D2 downtown subway line against plans to build the suburban Cotton Belt line is disheartening to many of us who have been here from the beginning. We know the promises that were made and that Dallas could not have built the system that exists inside Dallas in a timely manner without the commitment of the suburbs.  Continue reading...