Dallas gets federal streetcar funding

City gets $23 million

Steve Hawley, Feb 19, 10.

Dallas has received $23 million in TIGER stimulus funds to build a streetcar connecting Oak Cliff to downtown, according to the Dallas Morning News.

However, additional funding may be a challenge. The grant is only for half of what Dallas requested, and stimulus funds must be spent relatively quickly. The article notes:

Bob Stimson, president of the Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce, said the $23 million grant may be far less than requested, but it’s a good, substantive start toward a much-needed transportation option.
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Perhaps project cost savings and other money sources can fill in the funding gap, Stimson said. But today’s announcement, he said, “cements the idea that we are building a streetcar line from Methodist Hospital to downtown and that can’t be anything but good for Oak Cliff.”

Oak Cliff hopes the line can be operational by 2012. The community has not had streetcar service since 1956.

A description of the streetcar line follows:

The proposed streetcar line originates in Downtown Dallas at Harwood and Main Street, continuing down Main Street to Houston Street through the largest job center in the North Texas area. The line has a stop at Union Station in Downtown Dallas, which provides access to the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Authority’s Red/Blue Light rail lines and to Fort Worth via the Trinity Railway Express. It also includes stops at the Dallas Convention Center and Hotel, Trinity River Park (which will be among the largest urban parks in the United States), Methodist Medical Center, the Oak Cliff Gateway area and multiple residential areas.

Dallas was the only Texas region to receive TIGER funding. The region also received $20 million to help complete the State Highway 161 tollway.

(Photo credit: cacophony)