DALLAS — The potential dream of a subway in Dallas is dead for now, as a spokesperson with Dallas Area Rapid Transit said the D2 Subway project has been deferred from the agency's 20-year financial plan.
"One of the primary purposes of the D2 Subway project was to address the anticipated growth in peak period demand to and through downtown Dallas," DART spokesperson Gordon Shattles said in an email.
Work-from-home trends, growing regional employment centers outside Dallas and downtown Dallas changing to a more mixed-use neighborhood led the agency to work instead with Dallas and other service area cities to find cheaper alternatives that would achieve similar outcomes to the planned subway, Shattles said.
Right now, Shattles said DART is focused on meeting immediate mobility and system needs, such as bus improvements to modernize passenger amenities and facilities, upgrade original rail signal systems and infrastructure, and initiatives to address reliability, cleanliness and security.
Dallas City Council members had originally greenlit funding for the project two years ago. The estimated cost for the subway and light rails was estimated to have been $1.7 billion, with up to half of that eligible for federal funding. The planned route would have included three subway stations and two above-ground stations from Victory Park to Deep Ellum, with service on the green and orange lines, and was planned to be fully operational by 2028.
DART said at the time that the route would not only revitalize the downtown district by giving people more rail travel options in the area and supporting economic growth, but it would also give more flexibility and structure to DART's existing rail system.