Five stories that have North Texas talking: The latest on the Dallas-Fort Worth rail project; Denton renames Robert E. Lee Elementary; Dallas City Manager reflects on his first nine months; and more.
Plans for a high-speed rail connection shuttling travelers between Dallas and Fort Worth are slowly but surely gaining momentum.
In May, the Fort Worth City Council approved the establishment of a local government corporation, LGC for short, with Dallas to own and manage the rail line. Six months later, the Dallas City Council’s Mobility Solutions, Infrastructure & Sustainability Committee gave Dallas officials the green light to draft an agreement for the possible project with Fort Worth.
A draft could be ready by early next year, The Dallas Morning News reported. But the project itself, coordinated by the North Central Texas Council of Governments, is far down the road. Costs haven’t been determined. And it’s unclear if Arlington or Grand Prairie will want to join the LGC in order to get a stop on the route.
The rail line is being proposed to run either between downtown Fort Worth and downtown Dallas down Interstate 30, or along the Trinity Railway Express corridor, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. The proposed Dallas station is set to be built in the Cedars neighborhood near Interstate 30, according to the Morning News.
A $15 million environmental impact study of the possible 30-to-40-mile route is expected to be completed next year, according to the Star-Telegram. If the process gets moving, the line would be up and running by 2023 or 2024 at the earliest.
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- Name change: The Denton school board voted unanimously to rename Robert E. Lee Elementary School for Alice Alexander, who taught in Denton ISD for 45 years and was the daughter of Fred Moore, the city's first African-American principal. The change takes effect at the beginning of the 2018-19 school year. [Denton Record-Chronicle]
- Doctors in debt: In 2000, medical school grads owed an average of $125,000. Today, that average has climbed to $190,000. That’s why Kelly Johnson, originally from Southern California, became a Texas resident to save money on her education. [KERA News]
- Year in review: Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax talks about his first nine months on the job and how he hasn’t changed much at City Hall — yet. “2018 will shape up to truly be a year of change,” he said. [D Magazine]
- TEXAN AF: These license plates were recently rejected by the DMV. [The Houston Chronicle]
The High Five is KERA’s daily roundup of stories from Dallas-Fort Worth and across the state. Explore our archives here. And sign up for our weekly email for the North Texas news you need to know.
Photo: Max Faulkner, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
