News & Updates

February 9, 2024 Issue

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New Convention Center Footprint Now Includes Part of Former Dallas Morning News HQ


bizjournals.com


The nearly $3 billion reconstruction of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center will take on a different footprint than previously planned and also tie in several proposed transportation initiatives including as high-speed rail.


Rosa Fleming, director of convention and event services for the city of Dallas, presented a new "reorientation" of the future convention center to the Dallas Economic Development Committee Feb. 5 in anticipation of a presentation to City Council in March, the first since last February. She said the team is about to advance from concepts to design and preconstruction.


In the new site plans presented to the committee, the Convention Center no longer uses Lot E at the southeast corner of Memorial Drive and Hotel Street along Interstate 30. It instead takes about 130,000 square feet of footprint on the southern half of the former Dallas Morning News property on Young Street where a parking garage currently sits. It is unclear whether the city plans to acquire portions of that property.

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Fleming said new footprint is also meant to avoid conflict with the creation of a high-speed rail system near the convention center. In January, the Dallas Transportation and Infrastructure Committee discussed the potential for an elevated walkway, or "people mover," that would connect the already proposed high-speed rail station in the Cedars to the convention center and the Eddie Bernice Johnson Union Station, which is being reimagined as a multi-modal transportation hub, KERA reported.


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Shiloh Road Construction Planned to Finish this Spring


communityimpact.com


Several projects along Shiloh Road between 14th Street and Park Boulevard are expected to be completed in April, Plano Director of Media Relations Steve Stoler said.


Construction on the widening of Shiloh Road between 14th Street and Park Boulevard began in May 2022 and is budgeted at nearly $15 million. Stoler said that city bonds have covered $5.9 million, Collin County has contributed a little over $5 million, and an interlocal agreement with Dallas Area Rapid Transit provided $4 million.


The expansion of Shiloh Road will convert it from a two-lane road to a four-lane road, according to information on the project. An update from the city includes information that construction is about 95% complete on the project.


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Dallas Fort Worth International Airport Celebrates 50 Years of Service


communityimpact.com


Dallas Fort Worth International Airport celebrated 50 years of operations Jan. 13.


According to their website, the airport opened in 1974 with four terminals. Today there are five terminals with a sixth scheduled to open this year. The number of gates increased from 66 to 171 over the half-century. Additional then-and-now stats include that DFW started out with services from nine airlines and now boasts 28 airlines.


“With an estimated 80 million passengers in 2023, DFW is now the second-busiest airport in the world," the airport’s website states. "With its central location, DFW allows customers to reach any major metropolitan area in North America within four hours."


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Plano Seeking Input About DART Silver Line Stations


wfaa.com


The city of Plano is holding a public open house Tuesday night to discuss the areas surrounding two new train stations for DART's new Silver Line Project. 


The new project running on the Cotton Belt Regional Rail Corridor is set to take passengers from Plano to DFW Airport in around 50 to 55 minutes. The stations are currently being built and the city of Plano is asking for input for the half-mile radius around those stations.


"These plans are setting the community's vision for how they want the area around the transit station to look and feel knowing there is a new mode of transportation being introduced to the area," said Jason Aprill, a Senior Mobility Planner for the city.


Aprill says the city has been collecting public feedback since April and those suggestions have worked their way through an advisory group. 

"Should there be more bike lines? How do the streets look and feel? Do we need more parks and plaza?" Aprill asked rhetorically.


The public meeting is for the stakeholders in and around those stations along Shiloh Road and 12th Street. Tuesday is another opportunity to discuss how these stations fit into the city's fabric and what can be updated or improved.


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FIFA picks New York Over Arlington as Site of 2026 World Cup Final


star-telegram.com


The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) snubbed Arlington’s AT&T Stadium in favor of MetLife Stadium as host for the 2026 World Cup final.


The surprise announcement was made by Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s president, who made the announcement during a live television broadcast on FOX on Sunday.


It had been rumored for months that AT&T Stadium would be chosen to host the final. Following the Sunday announcement, Arlington Mayor Jim Ross stated that despite the rumors he was never assured Dallas would receive the World Cup final.

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Mayor Ross denied that Arlington’s lack of public transportation played a role in the decision.


“We have public transportation, let me tell you if you’ve ever been to a Cowboys game, if you’ve been to a Rangers game, if you’ve been to the World Series parade where we had 750,000 people come into the city, they moved in and out just fine. We have a ride-share program that gets people around just fine, but just because we don’t assign ourselves to a particular transit authority at this particular moment,” said Ross, “This is the type of thing that Arlington was born and raised to do. We do this all the time...our traffic management people are second to none and if you’ve ever experienced coming in and out of here, we get people in and out as good, if not better than any other city in the country.”


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How will North Texas Handle Transportation, Traffic for World Cup-Goers?


cbsnews.com


Arlington is home to our largest sports venues, but it does not have a mass transit system. The World Cup will draw teams and fan bases from around the globe, and those visitors will likely expect public transit options.


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Transit Coalition of North Texas

TransitNorthTexas.org