DART: new plan revives DFW connection, South Oak Cliff extension

  DART staff briefed the Board of Directors during a August 10 Board meeting armed with a proposed budget for FY 2011 and a revised 20-year financial plan that keeps the Orange Line extension on track and includes an extension of the Blue Line.

The final section of the Orange Line light rail project from Belt
Line Station at Belt Line and State Highway 161 to Terminal A of DFW
International Airport and a Blue Line extension from Ledbetter Station
to the UNT Dallas campus could be preserved under a the new long-range
financial plan being reviewed by the Board of Directors.

The
Board voted to send a draft Fiscal Year 2011 budget and updated 20-Year
Financial Plan to the cities within the DART Service Area for review.
The cities do not approve the budget, but are given at least 30 days to
review it. The proposed FY 2011 budget is $1.25 billion dollars and
includes budgets for operations ($422 million), capital ($689.3 million)
and debt service ($139.4 million). Board members are scheduled to
approve the budget and financial plan on September 28.

The rail
expansion projects would be funded through a mix of project cost
savings, increased debt and, if approved, additional federal funds. The
Orange Line extension, I-3, would likely be finished in 2014, one year
beyond the planned completion of 2013. The first two sections of the
Orange Line, which begin at the Bachman Station in northwest Dallas, are
scheduled to open in 2012. The three-mile Blue Line extension, SOC-3,
would be completed in 2019.

Since announcing a projected shortfall
in long-term sales tax revenues earlier this year, agency officials
have been reviewing funding strategies for capital projects scheduled
beyond the current 37-mile light rail expansion, including the second
Downtown Dallas alignment. The adjustment in DART Rail operating
headways from 10 to 15 minutes lessens the need to construct the
alignment for an extended period. There are also new considerations with
the potential inclusion of new streetcar lines in the Central Business
District and to Oak Cliff. Although the draft financial plan does not
include funding for the second downtown alignment, staff will continue
planning for the line taking these new initiatives into account,
including the pursuit of federal funding.

The completion of the
Green Line from Pleasant Grove to Carrollton and the new Lake Highlands
Station in December; the Blue Line extension from Garland to Rowlett and
the first two sections of the Orange Line from Bachman Station in
Northwest Dallas to Irving in 2012, are not affected by the projected
shortfall. The proposed 20-year financial plan includes $4.7 billion in
capital project funds for the rail expansion and other projects such as
the planned purchase of new buses and other items required to maintain
the agency’s state of good repair.

In March, DART reported
long-term (for fiscal years 2012 and beyond) projections of lower than
expected sales tax receipts. In addition to requiring adjustments in
current service levels the sales tax projections will also have a
significant impact on the ability of the agency to undertake future
expansion projects. Updated 20-year sales tax projections show DART
receiving approximately $3 billion less in sales tax income than the
amount projected as recently as May 2009. However, all estimates confirm
DART will be able to continue the routine replacement of fleet vehicles
and maintain a state of good repair for its current facilities and
those under construction.

More than 75% of the agency’s income is
from the collection of the one-percent sales tax in each of the 13
cities served by DART. Anticipated sales tax receipts for fiscal year
2010 are expected to be between $12 and $14 million below the original
estimate of $387.8 million.