North Texans are beginning to see the massive infrastructure project to connect seven cities from east to west take shape.
The DART Silver Line extension connecting Grapevine, Coppell, Dallas, Carrollton, Addison, Richardson, and Plano is moving closer to actuality as construction crews work on several different sites spread across the 26-mile alignment.
Coppell is currently the focus of much of this work.
“Anyone who’s driving, especially along [East Belt Line Road] in Coppell, you’re definitely seeing that construction,” DART’s assistant vice president of external relations, Gordon Shattles, told CBS News Texas.
As previously covered in The Dallas Express, DART announced that traffic would be disrupted as construction teams worked along MacArthur Boulevard near the rail crossing at East Belt Line Road.
Three different phases spanning from July 5 to September 20 were outlined.
Presently, crews are pulling up existing wooden ties and laying down concrete ones to which the rails will be later attached.
The Silver Line will receive new trains in the coming months, while rail testing is penciled in for late 2025. Current projections from DART suggest that full service from Shiloh Road in Plano to DFW Airport will be available in mid-2026.
Some, like Shattles, see the project as a significant stepping-stone to facilitate “transportation opportunities across North Texas,” according to CBS.
Yet others have not been won over by DART’s management of the endeavor.
For instance, local residents have raised several concerns ranging from alleged financial mismanagement by DART leaders to the disruptive impact of construction on local traffic, as The Dallas Express has previously covered.
Indeed, progress on the Silver Line project has been slow, with work on it first starting in 2010.
As Shattles told CBS, DART has overcome these initial hurdles.
“Working with our freight operators, our service area cities, the manufacturers for our trains, and each individual city along the way, we’ve slowly been able to increase that throughout the process,” Shattles explained.
As the Silver Line heads toward completion, there have been signs that the project is a catalyst for growth along its route.
“The new restaurants, the new homes, the apartments — [Cypress Waters in Coppell] is really just a booming area,” Shattles told CBS. “As well as the employers.”
As recently reported in The Dallas Express, the University of Texas at Dallas and Plano-based Wolverine Interests are teaming up to build a new mixed-use development with easy access to the Silver Line in Richardson.