Transportation leaders in North Texas say a new state report shows greater investment in public transit is essential to address the region’s rapid population growth — and the traffic woes that come with it.
The Texas Department of Transportation’s draft Statewide Multimodal Transit Plan shows 1 in 3 Texans surveyed say there is a need to expand public transit in both rural and urban areas as congestion and growth pose greater challenges to mobility.
Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, told KERA the region only has so much room left to build for highways.
“Once you hit a regional population of around 8 million, you're largely finishing out your freeways and our toll roads," Morris said. "We are basically finishing that up."
North Texas is expected to grow to about 12 million people by 2050. Morris said while transit and roadway improvements are two solutions to traffic congestion, state policymakers will also need to start focusing more on land use.
"How to build in Old Town Lewisville, how to build in downtown Denton, how to increase density in Mansfield to support real improvements in the future," Morris said. "The state needs to think about other transportation investments on the inner city side to help with regard to taking off the top of the roadway volumes and maybe give more of its roadway capacity to goods movement."
The draft plan, released in October, comes as public transit in North Texas is at a crossroads. Last week, four Dallas Area Rapid Transit Member cities voted to hold elections this spring to possibly withdraw from the transit system, citing inequities in tax contributions and services.
In a statement to KERA, DART officials said several staff members helped inform TXDoT's new plan.
"We are pleased that TxDOT recognizes that a multi-modal approach that includes expanded public and mass transit is required to future-proof Texas transportation as the North Texas region’s and State’s population expands," read the statement.
DART also touted the positive economic impact on the communities in which its system operates. It cited a 25-year study from the University of North Texas Economic Research Group that has attributed an $18.1 billion direct impact on North Texas from transit-oriented development within a quarter mile of DART stations.
"If we extrapolate that across Texas, as proposed by TxDOT, the future economic impact of public transit in Texas is significant," the organization said in the statement.
While DART didn't directly address the withdrawal elections, Morris at NCTCOG said the Regional Transportation Council is "on standby" to address the contentious issue.
"That's a call basically to see if a transportation authority wishes to come through and or a city wishes to come through, and see if there's some ability to negotiate a resolution of these issues," Morris said. "There's lots of things probably largely around the funding revenue and insight into potential win-win situations."
DART said TXDoT's draft plan supports the agency's area plans it's developing in partnership with member cities "while also enacting bespoke models for each city that best serves their individual needs."
"This system of serving the whole while attending to the individual pieces is reflected in the TxDOT plan and is the basis for our upcoming Transit System Plan effort which envisions a sustainable and robust DART system through 2040," read the statement.
Pablo Arauz Peña is KERA’s growth and infrastructure reporter. Got a tip? Email Pablo at parauzpena@kera.org.
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