DALLAS — Dallas Area Rapid Transit says its project to build a light rail line linking Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport with the rest of its network is now on hold.
The transit agency says it doesn't have the funds required to finish building the Orange Line route. The 4.7-mile rail link between Belt Line Road and Terminal A at D/FW had been scheduled to open in December, 2013.
"This is the culmination of no growth in tax revenue in the DART service area," said DART spokesman Morgan Lyons.
The Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce planned to use the connection to the airport as a way to attract more company headquarters to Irving. The organization hoped it would also boost business at restaurants and stores along the line.
"We feel like it's the most important section of the entire DART system," said Shawn Callaway, a spokesman for the business group.
The Orange Line will still be built out to Belt Line Road in Irving.
In addition, DART says it has also placed work on a Blue Line extension south to the University of North Texas at Dallas campus and a second downtown Dallas rail alignment on "indefinite hold."
"We still want to finish them, and still have plans to do that, but we just don't have the funding in place right now," Lyons said, adding that planning will continue on the suspended projects as DART prepares itself to compete for future federally-funded grants.
Other ongoing projects are not affected by the revenue shortfall:
- completion of the Green Line from Pleasant Grove to Carrollton
- a new Lake Highlands station
- the Blue Line extension from Garland to Rowlett
- the first two sections of the Orange Line to Irving
"We are very disappointed that it does not appear we will complete all of our projects as planned," said DART Executive Director Gary Thomas in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon. "We will continue working to find ways to advance these projects as best we can based on the current and anticipated economic and financial conditions."
E-mail wzwirko@wfaa.com and chawes@wfaa.com
