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Dallas City Council Passes Resolution Opposing High-Speed Rail
The Dallas City Council passed a unanimous resolution which opposes any new elevated rail through the Central Business District until an economic impact study is completed.
This resolution stems from concerns about the project’s current alignment and its impact on planned development projects near the station in Cedars. The Dallas city council approved a one-seat ride from Dallas to Fort Worth in 2015 and the federal government approved the station in Cedars back in 2017. Since then a new $3 billion convention center adjacent to the planned line has begun development. Hunt Realty Investments owns 25 acres near the convention center and has announced plans to build a $5 billion mixed-use development. They don’t believe their plans and the rail line can coexist.
At the briefing in March the NCTCOG proposed possible pedestrian lobby connections with the Hyatt Regency at the convention center, as well as a pedestrian deck plaza. Michael Morris, Director of Transportation at NCTCOG, explained that the rail alignment would not directly cut through the project and that the right-of-way would only impact about a dozen private properties in total. Morris also emphasized that the Cedars station has already been environmentally cleared, and moving the site would involve going through that lengthy process again. The NCTCOG previously explored an underground option in Dallas, but it wasn’t compatible with a one-seat ride from Fort Worth to Houston.
“You would defeat the whole purpose of having a high-speed rail to have the seamless connection because you’d have a 40-minute travel time penalty, so we just need time for people to understand that,” Morris said in March. “And I think Dallas just needs to have some time to help figure it out. So we’ll continue to work with the city of Dallas. They’ve got to tie these elements together.”
Read More:
Dallas Throws Up Roadblock to High-Speed Rail to Arlington and Fort Worth
Fort Worth to Houston High-Speed Rail on Track Despite Dallas Concerns
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