Quote:
Originally Posted by FoUTASportscaster
Say what you want, but as a resident of downtown Dallas, I like what I see in Houston's system and wish Dallas would build a similar urban rail.
DART works well if you are going to the urban corridor it serves (West End, direct City Center, the fringe of Deep Ellum) but for actual urban acessibility, it leaves a lot to be desired, from a pure rail standpoint. Houston is (will be)actually in the middle, rather than on old freight ROW away from the buit environment.
It works okay for what it is, primarily a suburban commuter network into downtown. As more section open, it may become more of an urban system, particularly depending on the alignent chosen for the second route downtown (the option the city favors is putrid, the one DART planners favor is better, but not the best option). To put it in perspective, using a cliche and comparing it to New York, DART's "urban" rail system covers a greater area geographically, but has over 150 miles less and about 400 stations less. It has more miles than stations.
Houston on the other hand will have over 1/3 the miles Dallas does, but more stations.
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Very simplified.
a.) The D2 line debate has always been silly to me. Every alignment has a con. Neither is great and neither is bad. But I like their proposed temporary solution since its not happening. Expand the M-Line in that part of downtown.
b.) Houston's system = street car system so far. The further out they build, the more it will become like DART. If you were writing a critique of DART's original red/blue line, it you'd find it was very similar to MetroRail in 1996. Its been this decade that has really spread things into a commuter system.
DART is getting the M-Line in their possession and will use a modern street car system with multiple stops bringing it a more analogous, multi-stop urban system. Signed, sealed and funded. This is what the D2 system should be a part of. Not part of the commuter rail. I'd rather see 3 stops only downtown for the commuter system. All under or above grade. Link the transit mall and D2 to the streetcar system. In fact I think all the at grade, inner-city lines should be a part of the new M-Line, including the more urban Green Line and blue line areas. This WILL happen because circumstance is allowing the planners to see this happen. The Fair Park situation each year will help them see this. Not getting D2 funded will let them see this. Possession of the M-Line going right through Uptown and possibly Knox-Henderson will help them see this. Time. The foundation is there already. Planners just have to realize their own reasons for delays.
c.) DART was built and purposed to be a commuter system and link the job centers in DART cities. Its doing what it said. It may not be impressive to the ultra urbanist here because its not criss-crossing Uptown and downtown 50 times, but its doing what it was built for. I think it does make a mistake by going slow transit mall downtown instead of subway or elevated, but I think that will be corrected as creativity has had to be born out of tighter budget.