Dallas DARTs Ahead
With the roadmap in place, Dallas moves forward on major mass transit  program

The Dallas Area Rapid Transit $1.5 billion program was approved last fall. Using new contracting techniques, the agency plans to keep the work on time and on budget.

by Lesley Hensell

With new stations popping up throughout Dallas and transit-oriented developments breathing new life into the local real estate and construction economies, Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s light-rail system has unveiled plans for even more extensive development over the next three decades.

Currently, DART is moving forward on expansions to two major lines. The first, the Northwest Corridor, will run 23 mi over two branches and include 19 stations. One branch of the Northwest Corridor will be an extension from the West End Station in downtown Dallas, heading north along Harry Hines Boulevard on the former path of the Union Pacific Railroad. It will go through Dallas and Farmers Branch to Frankfort Road in Carrollton.

The second branch of the Northwest Corridor will extend from the planned Bachman Station in northwest Dallas to Las Colinas in Irving and, finally, to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Segments of the $1.5 billion project should begin opening in 2010.

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2030 vision

Both of these expansions were planned in 1995. Since that time, DART has added 45 mi of light rail with 35 stations. The system carries more than 60,000 people on an average weekday.

Last fall, DART released a new document dubbed the “2030 Transit System Plan, ” which recommends several new rail projects and 43 additional mi of service at a cost of $1.586 billion. Included in the plan are:

• The Cotton Belt Corridor, which would provide a 26-mi east-west link across the northern portion of the DART service area. This rail line would link several cities to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport at a cost of $515 million.
• the Scyene Road Corridor, which would provide a 4.3-mi link between the Baylor and Fair Park areas and the northern part of southeast Dallas.
• the Southport Corridor, which would provide a 2.9-mi light-rail extension from the planned Blue Line to the University of North Texas campus.
• the West Dallas Corridor, an approximately 6-mi light-rail line from downtown Dallas to the Loop 12 area.
• the West Oak Cliff Red Line extension, which would add 4.3 mi of double-track extending to Red Bird Lane near the Dallas city limits

A new line, a new approach

Even as DART looks into the future, the agency is working hard to stay on track with the Northwest Corridor. The first phase of the project, worth $26 million, launched in June 2002 and was originally scheduled for completion in January 2004. Both the budget and timeline were blown using a traditional design-build approach.

So DART adopted a new construction process as work progressed in hopes of saving time and money. Rather than hiring a contractor at the outset of construction, DART brought a construction manager/general contractor on board during the design process.

“This time, we had the CM/GC on board with us during the final stage of the construction drawings,” says Timothy McKay, senior vice president of project management for DART. “When we gave the notice to proceed, the team was already mobilized with a safety plan, quality plan and more.” The CM/GC team is led by Archer Western Contractors, Arlington. 

Construction on the next major portion of the Northwest Corridor launched on July 3 of last year.  Currently, DART is a little ahead of schedule. Service is planned to open between Downtown Dallas and Fair Park in 2009, just in time for that year’s State Fair of Texas.

“So far, taking the CM/GC approach has made an impact on the change orders,” McKay says. “At this point, the only change orders have been either issues that nobody could possibly foresee or jurisdictional issues.”

McKay adds that the biggest task this year will happen around Thanksgiving when a junction must be added so that trains can be switched to head southeast. Currently, DART has a main line of track running north and south through downtown.
“This requires taking the mainline track out of service, demolition work, installation of the switch, reconnecting the track, putting in the signals and performing safety testing,” McKay says.

DART has chosen the Thanksgiving weekend, from Wednesday through Sunday, to shut down service and install the switch. To succeed, the team will follow and hour-by-hour schedule.

The joint venture team

The joint venture CM/GC includes a number of smaller companies. One of these firms is Brunson Builders, a Dallas company focused on construction management for DART stations.

“Since our joint venture is providing both construction management and general contracting services, our job is to ensure that there as agreement on the approach taken, that the work is getting done and that we provide DART with documentation,” says Al Brunson, principal for Brunson Builders. “The joint venture structure keeps everyone on their toes. It provides overlap to ensure that the team is synchronized. It ensures that everyone is on the same page to make things run as correctly and efficiently as possible.”

And coordination is key with construction of stations. Brunson calls the coordination a layered process, where utility work is followed by excavation, concrete, canopy erection, conduits and more.

“It’s a real challenge to be sure the right materials are on tap at the right time, especially since we have four stations being worked on at any given time, and each of those is at a different stage of construction,” he says.

Another joint venture partner, CARCON Industries & Construction of Dallas is providing long-term global planning for traffic control and utilities. CARCON also has conducted community meetings to keep local residents informed of closings and other construction news.