A new western route around Downtown Dallas was proposed by the Regional Transportation Authority on Thursday.

As previously covered by The Dallas Express, officials around the metroplex have been coordinating to facilitate the construction of a high-speed rail line between Dallas and Fort Worth. The route is expected to run along I-30 and carry passengers from one city to the other in just around 25 minutes.

At a workshop on Thursday, Michael Morris, the director of transportation for the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), which is coordinating the project, presented a new western route that bypasses Downtown Dallas. It would run south of the neighborhood, providing no connections with the Union Station rail complex and the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.

The move to pitch a plan that takes Downtown Dallas out of the picture stemmed from the Dallas City Council’s continued hesitancy to approve the initial plan. The rail would have been roughly seven stories high, which sparked concerns about redevelopment projects in Dallas’ Central Business District.

“Getting consensus on a process to hit a home run on high-speed rail is much more important to me,” Morris said, reported NBC 5 DFW.

He added that NCTCOG must complete 30% of the design process by February 2025 in order to submit it to the Federal Railroad Administration and the Federal Transit Administration for review.

In June, the Dallas City Council unanimously passed a resolution opposing a key part of the high-speed rail line until an economic impact study could be completed.

During Thursday’s workshop, the Dallas City Council members in attendance were unable to provide a date for when the economic impact study would be complete.

In response, Arlington Mayor Jim Ross, whose city will have a stop on the new rail, stressed the need to move forward with the project and pressed Dallas leaders for information.

“We can’t allow one part of the region to jeopardize our ability to meet the deadlines that are required from us,” Ross said, per NBC 5.

Overall, local leaders have expressed support for the project, which is expected to have a considerable impact across the region.

“High-speed rail is an integral part of our transportation future and it will include Tarrant County,” Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker said in a statement, per the Fort Worth Report. “Collectively, our success is dependent on world-class mobility solutions that connect not just DFW but the entire state of Texas.”

Still, some local figures have been critical of the plan.

“If the ‘economic feasibility’ study involves anything other than a 30 minute review of all the high speed rail boondoggles across the country, and maybe a screening of ‘Marge vs the Monorail,’ it’s a waste of time and money,” former Texas Republican Party chair Matt Rinaldi posted on X.