Summary: During July, the Dallas City Council opposed a proposed elevated line through the City’s downtown. However by August, Dallas and North Central Texas Council of Governments, who recently added $1.2M to the DFW - Houston high-speed rail project, started considering an alternative route from Fort Worth along Interstate 30 and around downtown Dallas.
Latest Update: 12 August, 2024
New alternative for the DFW to Houston high-speed rail project.
During July, the Dallas City Council opposed a proposed elevated line through the city’s downtown and adjacent areas, that was an important part of the DFW and DFW-Austin-Houston high speed rail line [1].
However, in August, the Regional Transportation Council, an independent policy group of the North Central Texas Council of Governments, "significantly" increased the $12 million budget with an additional $1.6M to continue "studying environmental impacts as the agency seeks federal approval for the transit project" [2]
In addition, Dallas has proposed an alternative "the east route from Fort Worth along Interstate 30 and around downtown Dallas to the southwest before connecting to an already federally approved high-speed rail station in The Cedars." [3]
Sources and Resources
[1] Work on DFW high-speed train slows down. Willow Park Civics, posted 01 July 2024
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. Not to worry, "Transportation disputes have long marked Fort Worth and Dallas’ relationship, starting in 1876..."
[2] North Texas officials increase high-speed rail study budget by $1.6M, Fort Worth Report, 08 August 2024
North Texas leaders approved $1.6 million in additional funding Thursday to help study a proposed high-speed rail route that would run west of downtown Dallas to Arlington and Fort Worth.
The funding approved by the Regional Transportation Council, an independent policy group of the North Central Texas Council of Governments, significantly increases the $12 million budget to study environmental impacts as the agency seeks federal approval for the transit project, which would connect Houston with Fort Worth-Dallas. The funding would come from the federal Surface Transportation Block Grant Program.
The agency is four years into the high-speed rail planning process, which includes a National Environmental Policy Act-related review. The regional agency is working with the Federal Transit Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration and other agencies on the lengthy process, which includes preliminary engineering and environmental documentation. The review process could be complete by March 2025, but the council of governments has been granted some flexibility for those requirements.
The revised alignment for the rail project — developed after the Dallas City Council passed a resolution in June opposing an elevated high-speed rail system through downtown and nearby neighborhoods — is still being finalized but would generally take trains west of Interstate 35 East near Riverfront Boulevard and run parallel with a levee east of the Trinity River.
[3] High-speed rail route connecting Fort Worth, Dallas gets another look, NBC Fort Worth.05 August 2024
The Regional Transportation Council will review an alternative high-speed rail route around downtown Dallas when it meets Thursday
NCTCOG staff will present an updated alignment for the east route from Fort Worth along Interstate 30 and around downtown Dallas to the southwest before connecting to an already federally approved high-speed rail station in The Cedars.
The Cedars rail station would link a long-proposed high-speed rail line between Houston and Dallas with Fort Worth.
NCTCOG first presented the alternative route that loops around downtown Dallas to the RTC in July.
• Downtown Dallas could be bypassed under high-speed rail proposal to Arlington, Fort Worth Report, 08 July 2024
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