Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) expects to procure a second contractor in the next six to nine months for the Cotton Belt Veloweb Trail.
The contractor will be responsible for building critical sections of the 26-mile regional bicycle-pedestrian trail that will run parallel to the Silver Line and connect seven cities across three North Texas counties. The contractor will build in various constrained locations before the trains are operable.DART’s planned Silver Line commuter rail line will start at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and continue northeast through the cities of Grapevine, Coppell, Dallas, Carrollton, Addison, and Richardson before terminating in Plano.
The Regional Transportation Council (RTC) of the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) authorized an increase in funding from $8.2 million to $14.9 million for the engineering of the bicycle-pedestrian trail and construction of critical portions, as well as sound walls near schools.
In September the RTC voted to pay 100 percent of the design of the Cotton Belt Trail, and $245,000 in Surface Transportation Block Grant funds for two safety walls near two schools.