DART sets date for Green Line completion

Written by jrood

February 14, 2001 December 6, 2010 is the date for completion of the final sections of the Green Line light rail project. Two sections, from MLK, Jr., Station near Fair Park south to Buckner Station in Pleasant Grove and from Victory Station northwest to North Carrollton, will open completing the 20-station, 28-mile, $1.8-billion project.  

The first part of the Green Line, from
Pearl Station to MLK, Jr., along with daily service to Victory Station, opened
September 14, 2009. Work began on the Green Line in fall 2006, following the
receipt of a $700-million Full Funding Grant Agreement from the Federal Transit
Administration. At its peak, construction of the Green Line, the longest light
rail project under construction in North America, produced more than 2,200
construction jobs.

The section from Fair Park to Pleasant
Grove includes four stations: 
Hatcher, Lawnview, Lake June and Buckner. A featured stop will be the
6,000-acre Great Trinity Forest near Lawnview Station. The largest urban
hardwood forest in the United States is also home to the Trinity River Audubon
Center, which has nature trails and hands-on exhibits.

Popular destinations along the 11
stations north of Victory Station include the Market Center and Medical
Districts, a Love Field Airport connection from Inwood Station and Farmers
Branch and Carrollton. Bachman Station is also the junction for the Orange Line,
which will connect Irving and Las Colinas by 2012. The Denton County Transit
Authority’s A-Train is scheduled to connect to the Green Line at Trinity Mills
Station in Carrollton in December.

In addition to the Green Line, DART
will open Lake Highlands Station on the Blue Line between White Rock and
LBJ/Skillman stations in December. Work also continues on a Blue Line extension
from Downtown Garland to Downtown Rowlett. That section will open by December 2012.

According to American Public
Transportation Association data DART is responsible for more than 25 percent of
all light rail construction in North America. DART’s current expansion programs
will grow the DART Rail System to more than 85 miles by 2012. Altogether, the
rail extensions are expected to add 60,000 weekday passenger trips, essentially
doubling ridership on the DART Rail System by 2030.

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