DART Says Rising Costs Could Delay Future Rail Expansion: Irving Officials Upset About Potential Cuts to Orange Line
By Michael Lindenberger, The Dallas Morning News
Dec. 5–Irving city officials expressed outrage Tuesday at news that DART’s plans to run rail lines through the city and to the airport will cost $900 million more than planned.
DART officials said that project could be delayed and others could be deleted, as the higher costs force it to re-evaluate the score of its long-range plans.
The long-promised Orange Line — touted for years as a major economic development boon in Irving — will cost nearly twice as much as planned, DART officials said Tuesday. Instead of $988 million, the rail project will likely cost $1.8 billion, DART president Gary Thomas said.
As a result, plans for the Orange Line could be scaled back, and its first phase — due to open in 2011 — could be delayed a year, Mr. Thomas said.
That news hit the Irving City Council like a freight train Tuesday.
“How can you all of a sudden have that type of a shortfall,” Irving council member Rick Stopfer said. “That is crazy.”
But the impact on the Orange Line may be the least of the changes wrought by its huge cost increase. Other projects — including a second rail line in downtown Dallas — could be delayed for years, freeing up money for use on the Orange Line instead.
In addition, the agency could scale back portions of the planned service along the Orange Line, and will begin immediately re-evaluating nearly all of its other major projects in the 2030 plan for possible cost-savings.
One option the agency will consider will be to look for funds from private firms, possibly offering long-term contracts for companies to design, build, and operate portions of the DART system.
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