High-speed rail plans for North Texas won’t be slowed down, Fort Worth-area leaders say.
The proposal to connect Dallas, Arlington and Fort Worth with high-speed rail will move forward despite a resolution from the Dallas City Council that opposes a proposed elevated line through the city’s downtown and adjacent areas.
Elected leaders serving on the Regional Transportation Council said they will work together to develop a rail plan that will benefit North Texas as a whole, as the population is expected to double from about 8 million to more than 15 million by 2050, according to RTC growth estimates presented at a June 13 meeting.
“We have to move forward,” Michael Morris, RTC director of transportation, said after Dallas City Council member Cara Mendelsohn asked for a July 11 workshop on the project to be rescheduled, as the Dallas council will be on a break at that time.
Morris cited the Dallas resolution that calls for a four-month economic impact study to determine the positive and negative aspects of the plan, including whether an elevated rail line is feasible for downtown Dallas.
Mendelsohn suggested that Morris’ reluctance to change the workshop date was “some kind of retribution” for the Dallas resolution approved June 12 — prompting outgoing RTC chair Gyna Bivens, the Fort Worth mayor pro tempore, to demand that transportation council members “act with proper decorum.”
“To have respect, you have to give it,” Bivens said. “We’re not going to let this Dallas-Fort Worth thing get in the way.”
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, elected as the new RTC chair, said, “This is going to have regional implications. … Whatever the case is, it’s not just one city.”
Arlington Mayor Jim Ross said council members from the DFW’s third-largest city plan to attend the July 11 workshop,although they will also be on a recess.
Dallas council members are concerned about a proposed seven-story high rail line that would cut through the Central Business District and adjacent downtown area neighborhoods. The line, they said, could hurt downtown redevelopment work that includes a new $3.7 billion convention center.
The high-speed line would include underground stops in Arlington and Fort Worth.
The underground option in downtown Dallas won’t work for the “one-seat ride” approach, Morris said, but he did not rule out a submerged rail line.
Members of the Regional Transportation Council, an independent policy group of the North Central Texas Council of Governments, cited regional cooperation for the project.
In a statement read by Bivens at the RTC meeting, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker said she is dedicated to improving the city, which is now the 12th largest in the nation.
“Fort Worth remains the fastest-growing large city in the country, attracting people and businesses from across the United States,” Parker said. “High-speed rail is an integral part of our transportation future and it will include Tarrant County.
“The regional long-term success of DFW is connected to regional partnerships, such as the high-speed rail project, as the region is poised to be the third-largest metro region in the country by 2030 – with a majority of the growth occurring west,” the mayor said. “Collectively, our success is dependent on world class mobility solutions that connect not just DFW but the entire state of Texas.”
The rail project will require regional cooperation among elected officials and others, Parker said.
“An economic feasibility study on the impact of high-speed rail across the Texas network, including the ‘Texas Triangle,’ is not a unilateral decision,” she said, referring to an area covering the state’s four main urban centers of Fort Worth-Dallas, Austin, Houston and San Antonio. “This is a regional decision that will require the stakeholders and elected officials to collaborate and solve complex problems for the advancement of our North Texas region.
“I am confident that the Regional Transportation Council and other stakeholders are positioned to navigate the complexities of the high-speed rail system to see that the route includes Arlington and Fort Worth,” Parker said. “I am thankful for the leadership that is working on our regional transportation networks and will continue to be a solution-oriented advocate. We need to continue to make progress on other transportation projects, such as TRE (Trinity Railway Express commuter rail), as these are not mutually exclusive and these complimentary investments will have a big impact.”
North Texas leaders “have the opportunity to build the first high-speed rail network in the United States,” Parker said.
“Texas is the eighth-largest economy in the world, with no signs of slowing,” she said. “As leaders, it is our responsibility to act with the visionary leadership needed for the soon-to-be third-largest region in the nation and home to 12 million people. Fort Worth is the 12th-largest city and will have a seat at the table to position the project for success.”
Meanwhile, Bivens said she plans to attend the July workshop on the rail project to show her support.
“The half has not been told,” she said, adding that many of her constituents would benefit from the rail project.
Eric E. Garcia is a senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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