By BJ Austin, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-838141.mp3
Dallas, TX – DART promises that trains along the Green Line will be rolling into the station at Fair Park's front gates when the State Fair begins in September. KERA's BJ Austin says Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson got a look at the work today which DART says is on-time and on-budget.
DART President Gary Thomas escorted the Congresswoman along the track in front of the Fair Park station - providing a progress report. Service between Fair Park and downtown Dallas begins September 14th - about two weeks before the 2009 State Fair.
Thomas says DART recently received 78 million in economic stimulus money. He says it's a great help in times of declining sales-tax revenue for the transit agency. Thomas says the stimulus money is able to cushion DART's debt load, and keep construction moving on the fast track.
Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson says DART is a good investment of federal dollars that pays local dividends.
Johnson: Everywhere we've had a DART station, we've been able to see the development come. That offers even more jobs and more opportunities for the community people.
Gary Thomas says the Green Line alone provides more than 22 hundred construction jobs.