DART News Release
May 17, 2007 | General
DART Rail delivering riders, dollars
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Media Relations Contact: May 17, 2007 $8.1 billion in impact DART Rail delivering riders, dollars In addition to growing ridership of more than 60,000 daily passenger trips, new research shows the investment in DART Rail is paying off at a rate of almost two to one.
"To say DART Rail's impact has been substantial for the Dallas region's economy would be an understatement," says Weinstein. "It's a trend that's impossible to miss; the local business community certainly hasn't."
"Those kind of numbers speak for themselves," says DART President/Executive Director Gary Thomas. "What strikes me most is how much economic activity actually exceeds the public monies it took to create the DART Rail lines in the first place. The message is clear, if ever there was any doubt: Transit pays off in a big way." Additionally, DART's annual operating expenditures ($342 million) create an extra $500 million in statewide economic activity. That number is projected to increase to more than $650 million annually by 2014. Green, Orange lines going strong Moving forward, a big part of the Dallas region's economic future is riding on DART. Last fall, the agency began major construction on the new Green Line - a 20-station project that extends 27.7 miles from the Pleasant Grove section of Southeast Dallas northwest through the city center to Carrollton.
A 14-mile, seven-station branch known as the Orange Line will extend from the Green Line in northwest Dallas to DFW International Airport by 2013. In addition, DART's Blue Line will extend to the east in 2012, and south in 2018. And a second rail line will open in the Dallas Central Business District in 2013 to accommodate the completed 93-mile system. Altogether, the rail extensions are expected to add 60,000 weekday passenger trips, essentially doubling ridership. A number of major, nine-figure TOD projects are planned along both lines. As the new century unfolds, Dallas is emerging as the global city it has so long aspired to be. The U.S. Census Bureau recently announced that the Dallas-Fort Worth "metroplex" has edged out Philadelphia to become the nation's fourth-largest - and second-fastest growing - metropolitan region. While the area continues to burgeon, DART Rail's success has impressed upon the entire region that rail transit can be a critical tool for economic development; in fact, non-transit cities in the area have begun a regional dialogue to find creative ways of getting transit, particularly rail. -- 30 -- Note to editors: Updated rail expansion maps and photos can be downloaded in a high-resolution format at www.DART.org/newsphotos. A schedule of projected opening dates is available at www.DART.org/expansion. Additional information about DART's efforts in transit-oriented development is available at www.DART.org/EconomicDevelopment. |
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