Texas Invests in Mass Transit

Though highways and roads are still the main target for growth in the transportation sector this year, mass-transit systems are getting revamped, expanded and launched across the state.

By Debra Wood with Christine Cox

Work continues on Dallas’ DART system, called the “longest light-rail project under construction in North America.” Shown, Fair Park Station, projected to open in September.

With Americans taking more public transportation rides than in the past, a total of 10.7 billion trips in 2008, the highest level in 52 years, Texas rail systems have made significant investments to expand their systems.

The American Public Transportation Association reports the last year represents the highest level of public transportation use in modern record keeping and a 4% increase over 2007. The association calls it a continuation of a long-term trend.

“Plans for expansion of rail systems in Texas have been in place before the increase in gas prices in 2008 and the huge increase in ridership but, certainly, that has increased everyone’s interest in rail,” says Ben Herr, executive director of the Texas Transit Association in Austin.

Herr adds that the data indicates forward thinking by Dallas Area Rapid Transit, or DART, and Houston’s Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County to expand light rail have proven right.

“It goes back to the leadership in Texas, TXDOT and communities that recognized Texans will get out of their cars and pickup trucks and get into rail vehicles,” Herr says.

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Dallas

Work continues on DART’s 28-mi Green Line, slated to open in December 2010, with the first section to start operating later this year. DART President and Executive Director Gary Thomas calls it the longest light-rail project under construction in North America and reported earlier this year that it is ahead of schedule and coming in under budget.

“At $1.8 billion, our region has made a big investment in rail,” Thomas said at a press event at the future Southwestern Medical District/Parkland Station in February. “We’re building this to offer people choices and a better mobility throughout the region.”

Archer Western-Herzog, a joint venture between Archer Western Contractors of Arlington, Texas, a subsidiary of The Walsh Group of Chicago, and Hertzog Contracting of St. Joseph, Mo. holds a $497,563,978 contract for the northern portion of the line.

Archer Western Brunson Carcon, a joint venture among Archer Western, Brunson Builders of Dallas, and Carcon Industries & Construction of Dallas, is working on a $428.7-million contract, building the southern portion of the line.

DART also has committed more than $600 million to expand its Orange and Blue Lines, says Randall Chrisman, chairman of the DART board.

The 14-mi Orange Line peels off from the DART Green Line and is a key component of the Texas regional rail expansion, slated for completion in 2013, according to Tim McKay, senior vice president in charge of the Rail Program Expansion for DART. The Orange Line will run parallel to the Green Line through Downtown Dallas then on to northwest Dallas. Kiewit, Stacy, Witbeck, Reyes, and Parsons, a joint venture of by Kiewit Texas Construction of Fort Worth, a subsidiary of Kiewit Corp. in partnership with Stacy and Witbeck of Alameda, Calif., Reyes Group of Markham, Ill. and Parsons, which has an office in Dallas, holds the $430-million design-build contract for the Orange Line, which by 2013 will allow people to travel to the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Austin Bridge & Road received the $188-million design-build contract for the DART Rail Blue Line extension from Garland to Rowlett, scheduled to open in 2012. “The Rail Blue Line extensions will run on an overhead catinary system, McKay says.

Denton County

The Denton County Transportation Authority in Lewisville, awarded North Texas Rail Group, a joint venture between Herzog Contracting and Archer Western, a contract to provide preconstruction and construction services for the 21-mi A-train, which will connect Denton County with the DART system. Original plans pegged the capital cost at $240 million in 2002 dollars.

A budget has not been firmed for the line, but, Raymond Green, general manager of Rail Operations for DCTA says, “the beginning funds, distributed by North Texas Tollroad Authority, are ‘in the bank,’ and construction begins immediately.”

The A-train project is part of the Regional Transportation Council’s Mobility 2025 and Mobility 2030 plan. The Texas Department of Transportation executed a contract with the Denton County Transportation Authority and released in February $250 million to the authority for the development of the line from Denton to Carrollton. The authority will provide the 20% match to complete the funding.

Also in the Dallas area, the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, which oversees the Trinity Railway Express in cooperation with DART, is developing plans for a rail line in the Southwest-to-Northeast Rail Corridor across Tarrant County. The proposed commuter route follows existing rail lines from Sycamore School Road in southwest Fort Worth, through downtown Fort Worth, northeast to downtown Grapevine and then into the north entrance of Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. The Trinity Railway Express recently completed a Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which includes holding public hearings and allowing a public comment period. Work is under way to prepare responses to the comments, and complete the Final Environmental Impact Statement.

Houston

In March in Houston, the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County’s board of directors awarded Parsons a $1.4-billion contract to add and maintain four more light-rail lines to Houston’s existing commuter system. The initial phase of the contract calls for spending $632 million. Thirty-five percent of eligible program contracts for the total contract are slated to go to local small businesses.

The existing system, also designed and maintained by Parsons, runs from downtown Houston to the Reliant Center and includes 16 rail stations along the currently operating 7.5-mi line. 

The new work is expected to create as many as 60,000 jobs before the approximately 20 additional miles of light rail are completed.

“These light rail lines, along with the highly successful Main Street line, will serve as the backbone for a regional system that will serve commuters across the entire Metropolitan area, and across county lines, for generations to come,” says METRO Board Chairman David S. Wolff. 

Austin

Austin’s first light rail system, a $105-million, six-car, 32-mi Red Line MetroRail will run on existing freight tracks. Lockwood, Andrews and Newnam of Houston serves as program manager for Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority in Austin. The line was scheduled to launch at the end of March but Capital Metro held off due to safety concerns.

Capital Metro President/CEO Fred Gilliam released a statement announcing the delay after learning of its operations and maintenance contractor Veolia Transportation’s alleged safety violations during testing of the line from the Federal Railroad Administration and the Texas Department of Transportation. He says, “Capital Metro felt it was important that we take a little more time to allow us to provide the safest and best possible rail system at the launch of service.”

The extra time will help ensure all components of the system are ready. No definite date for the rail opening has been reset as yet, according to spokesman Adam Shaivitz. The line, which will travel between Leander and Austin, will carry freight in the late evenings, and passengers during rush times, every half hour.  

Capital Metro expects to receive $26.1 million in stimulus funding, some of which might go to a rail expansion, perhaps adding an extra siding track.

Useful sources:

Dallas Area Rapid Transit
http://www.dart.org/

Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County
http://www.ridemetro.org/

Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority
http://www.capmetro.org/