Arlington Mayor Jim Ross says the proposed high-speed rail line that could run through his city would be an economic game changer that literally puts Arlington at the center of the region’s transportation plans.
Ross said he is excited about high-speed rail’s potential and that his city is ready to lead.
He recently wrote an op-ed piece on the subject that ran in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He said the column was needed to get a Tarrant County voice into the general discussion.
“I think two previous mayors in Dallas did an op-ed,” Ross said. “And when the opportunity came up, I thought it would be good for someone to hear from a mayor over here in Tarrant County as well.”
Ross said he sees the proposed high-speed rail line, which would run east and west from Dallas and Fort Worth along Interstate 30 through Arlington, as a job-generating dynamo for the entire region, particularly Arlington. The proposed line would head south from Dallas to Houston, according to current plans.
“You know anytime you have the ability to connect with other major metropolitan areas outside of your city that has the ability to quickly and rapidly transfer employees to and from their job sites, it’s going to be a job generator,” Ross said in a joint interview with the Arlington Report and KERA radio.
He said North Texas’ rapidly growing population calls for alternatives that will help that growth.
“The future isn’t just approaching; it’s here. In 2023, the Dallas-Fort Worth area topped the nation in population growth and secured the second spot for job creation, welcoming more than 152,598 residents and adding more than 154,000 jobs, as reported by the U.S. Census and federal employment data,” Ross wrote in his op-ed. “This rapid expansion underscores an immediate need for innovative solutions.”
Ross said that Dallas-Fort Worth is the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country.
“But all indications are we’re going to overcome the Chicago area which is number three before too long,” he said. “The high-speed rail is the first major step and will help us to regionalize effective transportation here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.”
The mayor said high-speed rail is badly needed.
“Here in DFW, we have three transit authorities and then we have a group of non-subscribers which are like Arlington in Grand Prairie and others — which essentially provides for different groups of cities, all doing sort of their own independent thing,” Ross said. “This high-speed rail system helps to regionalize all of those efforts at bringing people together. The better Dallas does, the better we do, the better Fort Worth does and vice versa.”
Tourism also is a major driving force for bringing high-speed rail, Ross said.
“We’re the largest tourism destination anywhere in the southwest United States,” he said. “Countrywide, I think Orlando is the only place that beats us.”
He said the city is bringing 18-20 million people a year, and tourism is growing with the opening of the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington coming next March. There’s also Six Flags Over Texas, Hurricane Harbor, the world champion Texas Rangers, and the Dallas Cowboys. Ross also noted the many concerts the city hosts as well as the recent Professional Bull Riders championship at AT&T Stadium.
“We have big, big, big tourism here, more so than the rest of North Texas combined,” he said. “So that’s what we bring to the table, and people don’t understand Arlington is a big city population wise, land wise. We’re bigger than Pittsburgh and New Orleans, and we’re about the same size as Tampa. We’re bigger than St. Louis.”
That makes Arlington unique.
“You take Arlington out of the middle of Dallas and Fort Worth and put us anywhere else in the country and we’re going to be a major metropolitan area. We just happen to be between two other big cities.”
But is high-speed rail doable?
“It’s certainly doable,” Ross said. “This is something that if it goes as they plan on it going will be Amtrak run and operated.”
And, Ross said he believes it is economically feasible, too.
“This is something where there’s not a lot of private land that needs to be acquired,” Ross said. “It’s all government land. Coming down the middle of I-30 with plenty of government and private monies to help get this thing done.”
Ross said the taxpayer won’t be on the hook, either.
“It’s not anything that’s going to cost taxpayers any huge amounts of money to get this thing off the ground,” Ross said.
At a recent public meeting held by North Central Texas Council of Governments, planners emphasized that the planning is well underway and that decisions will need to be made on an operator of the rail line and on how it will be funded.
And, Ross said, a high-speed rail system will move Texas into the future of transportation.
“Here in the United States, compared to some of the other countries around the world, we’re a little bit behind on these high-speed rail systems,” Ross said. “I’m excited about the fact that Texas has really taken the lead on this. And that’s good stuff. You know, kudos to Texas.”
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