This 26-mile rail line will run from southeast Plano to DFW Airport, seat about 230 passengers and serve Collin, Dallas and Tarrant counties.
Council Member Cara Mendelsohn said DART has not done enough to keep residents informed. The Silver line goes through her district.
"After 15 years of misrepresenting and a lack of transparency and of prioritizing expediency and cost over safety and continued communication failures. There is not trust to build on,” she said a Dallas City Council briefing earlier this week.
The project has been three decades in the planning. It was approved on October 2016 and its current budget is $1.9 billion.
Resident Jocelyn Ickes lives near the rail line and has been voicing her concerns at council meetings for the past several months. She worries it will disturb her quiet neighborhood and put pedestrians at risk.
“DART's poor communication to our neighborhoods has been a hallmark of a 15-year engagement. That poor communication continues. They have not discussed with the community any changes,” Ickes said.
Mendelsohn is asking DART to construct visible crosswalks and find ways to control the sound from the train.
DART officials said they are creating an education campaign on rail crossing safety and building sound-absorbing walls. They also assured the council that part of their project planning includes a drainage system to withstand 9.37 inches of rain in a 24-hour period.
The Silver Line is set to open in late 2024.
For questions or concerns about the project residents can contact DART at SilverLine@DART.org.
Got a tip? Email Alejandra Martinez at amartinez@kera.org. You can follow her on Twitter @alereports.
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