The DART 2030 Transit System Plan (TSP), approved in October 2006, identified the Cotton Belt Corridor as a priority project. In 2016, DART advanced implementation of the Cotton Belt to the year 2022 in its FY2017 Twenty-Year Financial Plan. The DART 2040 Transit System Plan, which is under development, will reflect this change to the project schedule. The proposed project would be financed through a new federal loan program called Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF). The project assumes a phased approach to implementation that would initially include mostly single-track operations.
The 26-mile Cotton Belt Corridor extends between DFW Airport and Shiloh Road in Plano (see map below). The alignment traverses seven cities: Grapevine, Coppell, Dallas, Carrollton, Addison, Richardson and Plano. The Cotton Belt Project’s primary purpose is to provide passenger rail connections and service that will improve mobility, accessibility and system linkages to major employment, population and activity centers in the northern part of the DART Service Area. The Cotton Belt Project would interface with three DART LRT lines: The Red Line in Richardson/Plano, the Green Line in Carrollton and the Orange Line at DFW Airport. Also at DFW Airport the project would connect to Fort Worth Transit Authority’s TEX Rail Regional Rail Line to Fort Worth and the DFW Airport Skylink People Mover.
DART is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to assess the impacts and benefits of rail passenger service on the Cotton Belt Corridor. Project oversight will be conducted by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) in cooperation with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
DART has established an email address for receiving comments on the project: CottonBelt@DART.org.
Source: www.dart.org
