Arlington, the largest city in the United States without a mass public transportation system, is proposing a regional transit authority system that could oversee high-speed rail to unmanned systems.<\/p>\n
Officials from the Tarrant County city with a population of more than 403,000 residents \u2014 and home to stadiums for the Dallas Cowboys and the Texas Rangers \u2014 want to create a North Texas agency that would initially oversee efforts such as high-speed rail, micro transit and autonomous systems, according to a Jan. 22 letter from Arlington City Manager Trey Yelverton.<\/p>\n
The proposed transit authority could operate under the leadership of the Regional Transportation Council and its related Transit 2.0 subcommittee, both components of the Arlington-based North Central Texas Council of Governments.<\/p>\n
\u201cArlington strongly supports the development of high-speed rail transportation between Fort Worth, Arlington, and Dallas with a regional connection to DFW International Airport, and we remain committed to working with regional partners to bring this project to fruition,\u201d Yelverton wrote in his letter to the Regional Transportation Council leaders.<\/p>\n
If established, the proposed technology-based transit authority would \u201cserve as a platform to integrate and advance emerging mobility solutions across North Texas,\u201d Yelverton said.<\/p>\n
Arlington officials envision that the transit authority, once established, would expand over time to include additional technology-based initiatives, including electric vertical takeoff and landing systems, autonomous delivery vehicles, and real-time data and artificial intelligence-powered traffic congestion mitigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city of Arlington reaffirms its intent to participate financially in this project once state and federal clearances and a viable, approved business plan is in place,\u201d Yelverton wrote. \u201cA technology-based governance mechanism could facilitate Arlington\u2019s financial participation while supporting the broader advancement of next-generation mobility solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Morris, transportation director for the council of governments, is expected to discuss the regional transit authority proposal during the Regional Transportation Council\u2019s Feb. 12 meeting, according to the agenda.<\/p>\n
Arlington Mayor Jim Ross said city officials want to input from regional leaders on the idea.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just kicking it around with RTC and Michael Morris,\u201d Ross said.<\/p>\n
Ross said a technology-based transit authority would help with advancing high-speed rail in North Texas if that transportation option does move forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just trying to get ahead of the curve to let people know that it is certainly something we are interested in,\u201d Ross told the Fort Worth Report. \u201cOne of the avenues that we can look at is a high-tech type of authority that is out there because we pride ourselves on some of the technological advances that we\u2019re involved in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ross said the issue warrants further discussion with regional transportation leaders.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not an Arlington-only thing,\u201d Ross said. \u201cIt\u2019s certainly expressing that our desire is to work collaboratively on this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arlington voters have rejected proposals to create a public transit system three times since 1980.<\/p>\n
While many oppose a bus system, a single bus route operated by Dallas Area Rapid Transit was in place between 2013 and 2017. The route was discontinued due to low ridership and replaced with Arlington On-Demand ride-sharing service<\/a>.<\/p>\n Arlington and Fort Worth officials want to advance a proposed high-speed rail corridor along Interstate 30 from Fort Worth to Dallas. The proposed bullet train by Texas Central Railway<\/a> is led by Fort Worth businessman John Kleinheinz<\/a>, the principal investor.<\/p>\n Dallas City Council leaders, skeptical that the Fort Worth to Dallas high-speed route will be built, voted in January<\/a> to expand a 2024 resolution<\/a> that adds new restrictions near downtown but also advanced a $500,000 federal grant to study the proposed system between Houston and Fort Worth, The Dallas Morning News reported.<\/p>\n Dallas leaders asked regional transportation officials to consider upgrades to the Trinity Railway Express as an alternative route. That rail line does not stop in Arlington. The service is jointly owned and operated by DART and Trinity Metro, Fort Worth\u2019s transit agency.<\/p>\n Arlington, which is slated to host 2026 FIFA World Cup matches in the summer, previously announced a partnership with an electric air taxi company and allocated $17.5 million for street, traffic and other improvements in the entertainment district that includes AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field.<\/p>\n Flying taxis won\u2019t be available for the World Cup matches because the Federal Aviation Administration\u2019s regulations are not complete, KERA reported. Alicia Winkelblech, Arlington\u2019s director of transportation, told KERA<\/a> in December that it could be 2027 when the first manufacturers of air taxis get FAA certification to move people.<\/p>\n Transportation options such as high-speed rail would benefit the region as a whole, Ross said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re all in this big melting pot together here in North Texas,\u201d Ross said. \u201cIf we can find ways to help regionalize the transportation, whether it\u2019s through technological advancements, whether it\u2019s through centralized, collaborative effort among the existing transit authorities. This isn\u2019t just about benefiting Arlington, this is about doing those things that are beneficial to municipalities throughout North Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n Eric E. Garcia is senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Report\u2019s news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n This article<\/a> first appeared on Fort Worth Report<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arlington, the largest city in the United States without a mass public transportation system, is proposing a regional…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":{"0":"post-158455","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arlington","8":"tag-arlington","9":"tag-arlington-headlines","10":"tag-arlington-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}