Recently Rodger Jones in the Dallas Morning News transportation blog, asks “Will success make Richardson traffic unbearable?” He states that Richardson recent economic successes might be what makes traffic unbearable.

He notes such projects as Brick Row, the new Blue Cross Blue Shield complex, the big AT&T lease, Eastside, and a few other projects as possibly increasing the traffic demand in the area.

His question is a fair one.

He gives some suggestions to consider and again, they are fair. However, his disposition seems to be that the city and region has not considered these growth possibilities or his suggestions. I would suggest they already have in many cases. Although his blog entry was a while ago, it took me some time to compile some of the answers to his queries.

Here they are:

Jones says, “City and transportation officials need to push DART service like fiends” and “Aggressively work with major employers, including City Hall, to adopt non-rush office hours for portions of their workforce. Offer inducements.”

The City of Richardson has a Travel Demand Management (TDM) policy which includes a transit subsidy for its employees and a vanpool program. Texas Instruments has what is probably the largest vanpool program in the region and if they opened the Renner Fab (as Jones suggests) it’s hard to believe they would not extend such a program there.

There are two shuttles which run from the Bush Turnpike station. One is the Galatyn shuttle which is subsidized by the City of Richardson and DART. The other is the UTD shuttle. I have been told that these shuttles are free to residents, employees and students in Richardson.

Richardson’s programs have not gone unnoticed. Awards received:
"Best Workplace for Commuters" by the EPA and the Department of Transportation for 2004 and they have been recognized many years hence.
Employer of the Year by the North Texas Clean Air Coalition in 2004-2007.
Texas Instruments won Employer of the Year in 2008
Richardson won Clean Air Champion by the North Texas Clean Air Coalition in 2008.

The City of Richardson also requires a traffic impact analysis for these new developments. While it would be an article of faith to suggest that mere fact is enough, it does show that in the least the City is thinking ahead on those matters.

Also, we need to note the opening of the Routh Creek Parkway which connects Renner to the new Blue Cross facility. While I don't encourage the building of new roads, and this road generated some slight controversy (and in fact Ian McCann quoted me in a Morning News story some time back when it broke ground), its clear that it might relieve some congestion.

Jones said, “Speed development of the east-west Cotton Belt rail service across the northern suburbs to avoid adding pressure to the Bush.”

There has been a push to make this happen for many months including moving the project into a private-public partnership arrangement to get it ahead of its schedule on the DART master plan. Also, space has been designated for a station at UTD which would make it the only university in Texas with passenger rail service.

Jones also notes the 75 HOV problems.

There is no argument there and everyone knows this including city officials. Remember the configuration was chosen by TxDOT and they have control over its configuration. Part of the public relations problem is convincing people that one version of the purpose of the HOV lane says that it is for people who are passing through Richardson and are NOT stopping. Another segment of the public wants some HOV access for Richardson (particularly an exit for the Telecom Corridor area) and that tension remains a sticking point.

But again the HOV discussion has been going on since it was installed and you will get little argument from anyone about dissatisfaction.

Jones says, “The Arapaho station's parking lot sits more than half-empty most of the time. Put up HUGE directional and promotional signs to get people off the road, out of their cars and into the trains.”

I’ll go one farther than Jones. I say tunnel Greenville Avenue at the Arapaho station and put parking on a deck where the road currently exists now so it can be right against the station. There are some of us in the neighborhood community (such as myself being a Neighborhood Association president) who are pushing that routes be added to the master trail plan in areas targeted for redevelopment so that they connect to the DART stations. The idea is to increase walkability between DART and older neighborhoods. The City of Richardson knows owns wide swaths of lots across from City Hall and the Library. It seems reasonable now to connect the City Hall/Library area with the Arapaho DART station on the master trail plan.

While Jones suggestions are not bad, they do miss some of the activity and attention that is already going on. I would actually suggest a more aggressive approach and I will detail some of that in another blog entry.