Irving eager for DART Orange Line arrival
Dallas Area Rapid Transit knows Irving is eager to get light rail service, said Gary Thomas, DART president and executive director. All he has to do is look back a few years ago when DART talked about delaying the project.
It was about 2008, and construction prices were high.
"We looked at our timing, and it looked like we might have to delay some of our projects," Thomas said on Wednesday at a meeting of the Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce held to celebrate the pending arrival of the Orange Line.
The chamber's response – a full-court press to move the project forward – made for some discomfort, Thomas said, but that was better than the alternative.
"What if we delayed the project by two years and nobody cared?" Thomas said. "That would be a lot worse."
DART pushed forward on the project, leading to the July 30 scheduled opening of a five-mile extension of the Orange Line from Bachman Station to the Irving Convention Center.
DART plans to open the next section – from the Convention Center to Belt Line Road – on Dec. 3, followed by the stretch from Belt Line to D/FW Airport Terminal A in December 2014.
The approximate travel time from DFW Airport to West End Station in downtown Dallas will be 50 minutes.
The 14-mile, $1.3 billion Orange Line is expected to generate at least $400 billion in transit-oriented development in Irving.
Thom Davis, chief information officer for Irving-based Omega Environmental Technologies and an Irving chamber board member, said he sees a multitude of economic development benefits of the new train.
He said most of Omega's business is international, and visiting clients often face a challenge getting around and accessing the airport.
Matt covers transportation, energy, government and economic development.
