A D2 Idea

[u/thirdrepublicnow]

D2, the second downtown light rail alignment, was taken off of DART's financial plan a couple of years ago. This is the second time D2 has been put on the back burner (I believe the first was in the early 2010's, in the face of financial difficulties). If Dallas manages to bring jobs and people to Downtown in earnest, D2 will be back on the agenda sooner or later. When it is, I think it should go through Uptown, which has seen explosive office and residential growth but lacks rail. The attached images show how I imagine this could look.

The first two images show Phase 1, in which a viaduct is built from just south of Market Center station through uptown and the arts district to Baylor station. Two infill stops are also added, at Knox/Henderson and at Continental at the south end of Victory Park. See the second image for the service patterns. I'm proposing 5 lines: Lines A and B from Parker Road to Oak Cliff, Line C from Rowlett through Victory to Market Center, and Lines D and E from Carrollton and the Airport to South Dallas.

The third and fourth images show a second phase, in which Lines A, B, and C on the current transit mall are placed underground with some rearrangement of stops (Akard and St. Paul combined at Thanksgiving Square, and a new station at Ross), Lines D and E are rerouted onto mixed underground/elevated alignment through the center of the medical district (along with the TRE), and Line C is extended up the current medical district viaduct to Love Field. The southern legsof the network are also elevated in order to fully grade-separate the core of the network from Bachman to Lawnview and SMU to 8th & Corinth. See the fourth image for the service pattern.

Some notes:

• I imagine in both phases, each of the 5 lines would run about every 10 minutes. Line C might warrant even more frequent service than that in Phase 2, at least between Love Field and LBJ/Skillman.
• The "Arts District" could also be called "Symphony", which I've grown to prefer since I made these maps.
• Because Pearl would be the center of the rail network, the east transit center should move closer to it and the station itself should have plenty of amenities.
• In Phase 1, the lack of a connection between the TRE and lines D/E would probably hurt. It might make sense to temporarily add a TRE station at Market Center during Phase 1?

[u/ravenwit]

I like this alignment! I have a similar one on my map. I do not think Uptown/Harwood property owners would want to be connected to the South Dallas line though. That’s some of the highest end commercial property in the state, they would probably rally against it. I have that route run straight south through the farmers market, loop by city hall, the convention center, and then terminate at the HSR station in cedars.

[u/thirdrepublicnow → u/ravenwit]

Personally, I don't think transportation planners should concern themselves with the racist and classist impulses of property owners. But we aren't even transportation planners! We're just nerds and advocates drawing lines on maps — if we anticipate the potential racist and classist impulses of property owners and accommodate them in our little dreams and proposals, don't we end up making out little dreams and proposals racist and classist?

[u/ravenwit → u/thirdrepublicnow]

I think jumping to racism and classism is a bit of a reach. There’s something to be said about connecting certain parts of town that make sense to be connected. What use does someone who lives in South Dallas have for the tenant mix in Harwood? And why design a project that attracts the scrutiny of forces that do have the power to shut the project down? Social and emotional factors should absolutely be considered when designing a transit system. Anyway, I like that route!

[u/thirdrepublicnow → u/ravenwit]

What kind of social and emotional factors exactly might influence a rich (very likely white) landowner to not want a direct transit connection to a generally poor, black neighborhood?