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Home , Dallas Streetcar, Downtown Dallas

Rail Transit John Quintero

Restoring Streetcar line in - breathes new lost heritage life into an old structure

prouting almost overnight, the Dallas-Oak Cliff community, whose S name comes from the massive oaks crowning the soft green rolling cliffs of the , was one of the greatest U.S. suburban developments during the early 1900s.

It boasted an opera house, a 44-acre theme park, two major league baseball teams and a university—all connected via a steam-powered rapid transit railway system with canopy-covered stations every two blocks. The Oak Cliff community was built on the idea of walkable and mixed-use neighborhoods. In May 1908, a 50-ft rise in the Trinity River destroyed or inundated all river crossings from Oak Cliff to Dallas. Despite the hefty $600,000 cost, the city of Dallas and Oak Cliff residents approved the construction of the Houston Street Viaduct to be the first “permanent” crossing of the Trinity River. At the time of its construction, it was said to be the longest reinforced concrete viaduct in the world. On Jan. 14, 1956, much to local residents’ dismay, the last streetcar ran from Dallas to Oak Cliff. For nearly 70 years, streetcars had run through the Oak Cliff boulevards. Over time, these twisting and turning rail lines were paved over, and the once familiar sound of the streetcar bell ceased. The 1950s and 1960s were a stormy and dark time in Oak Cliff history. In 1957, a massive tornado devastated many of Oak Cliff’s historic homes. A dark cloud fell over the city of Dallas and Oak Cliff in particular with President John F. Kennedy’s assassination on Nov. 22, 1963. It was on this date that Dallas police officers converged on Oak Cliff’s beautiful Theatre searching for a man who had entered without paying. That man was Lee Harvey Oswald. Oak Cliff rocketed into the international spotlight in a most unfavorable manner that solemn day. During this harsh economic period, many businesses closed, home values plummeted and homes were converted to multi-unit apartments. The community

10 Winter 2016 | TM&E WWW.TMEMAG.COM | TM&E 11 boulevards and neighborhoods lost streetcar line. Although only 1.6 miles By exhibiting the reduced impacts, American-made “off-wire” streetcar rail. Designers traveled to Poland to much of their former charm and in length, it is the multi-million-dollar the team obtained a design exception that operates on battery power. For study block rail—the preferred rail type beauty. streetcar system’s most important to current track alignment criteria two-thirds of the 1.6-mile-long in -heavy Europe. They developed and costly segment, providing the from DART and replaced it with the track, Brookville’s Liberty Streetcar specifications to have the materials Bringing it back critical crossing over the Trinity River suggested 2012 AREMA Embedded operates exclusively off an on-board manufactured in the U.S. to comply In the 1980s and 1990s, new life floodplain separating Track Guidelines. These guidelines energy storage system which utilizes a with the Buy America requirements of grew in the area when urban pioneers from Oak Cliff. are now the basis for all future Dallas redundant lithium ion battery system the TIGER Grant program. began buying up the large dilapidated The single-track, bi-directional Streetcar expansion programs. capable of powering the car when Block rail’s shallow profile and steel frame houses. The Bishop Arts streetcar alignment required running off-wire. flangeway makes it ideal for streetcar District and Oak Cliff redevelopment constructing cast-in-place concrete Going off-wire and more The off-wire design is beneficial projects in urban settings. The narrower influenced artists, musicians and young trackslab along the Houston Street The engineering and materials used to areas where streetcars cross under flangeway makes the tracks less likely professionals to reside again in the area. Viaduct. The viaduct has been a key in the project represent bridges, over overpasses or across train to interfere with or cause injury to A new era dawned for this community. landmark for more than 104 years; it is a major step forward in modern U.S. tracks, because existing structures or cyclists and motorists. Designers In 2010, a local nonprofit listed on the U. S. Register of Historic streetcar design and set the benchmark signal arms can interfere with overhead collaborated with the contractor and organization, the Oak Cliff Transit Places and recognized as a historical for future systems. wires. Based on the success of this DART to improve the durability and Authority, spearheaded the city’s effort civil engineering landmark by the One of the challenges in modifying project, cities (including Detroit) are constructability of block rail ties, to obtain from the U.S. DOT a $23 American Society of Civil Engineers. an historic structure for streetcar use is now looking to implement off-wire rail clips, boots and isolation joints million Transportation Investment The bridge’s 44-ft-wide deck was the viaduct’s aforementioned status on segments to work around existing for the project. Other cities also are Generating Economic Recovery originally designed to accommodate the U.S. Register of Historical Places. infrastructure, offering the ability taking cues from the block rail use. (TIGER) grant to reintroduce a two streetcar rails serving downtown Early coordination with the Texas to run the track in closer proximity Projects in Kansas City, Seattle and modern streetcar system in Oak Cliff. Dallas and Oak Cliff. The rails were Historic Commission had precluded to other tracks and avoid overhead Milwaukee are already benefiting from Flash butt welding of 112TRAM block the installation of an overhead catenary obstacles. the advancements made on the Dallas rail at the Dallas Streetcar site. (Keith or trolley wire on the bridge. The Dallas Streetcar also incorporates Streetcar. Philpott, HDR). To overcome this challenge, a unique a relatively new rail type, 112TRAM In addition to being the first U.S. partnership was developed between block rail. In fact, it is only the second installation of off-wire capability based on unlikely sources: the original DART, SW/C, HDR and domestic project in the U.S. to use this rail type, and pre-curved block rail, Dallas 1910 design drawings obtained from streetcar manufacturer Brookville which is used extensively in Europe, Streetcar marked the first project to the city of Dallas vault and a 1911 Equipment Corp. to deliver the first and the first to use pre-curved block use a time-saving flash butt welding “Engineering–Contracting” article containing detailed design information, which was discovered through extensive research of historical documents. At the Union Station stop near Establishing design criteria (Mike Cameron, HDR). DART is the largest owner and operator in the U.S.; as such, its rail standards were developed specifically for light rail transit (LRT) systems, which vary substantially from streetcar systems. The design team helped DART appreciate the engineering and A stack of 112TRAM block rail ready to go (Keith Philpott, HDR). construction differences between a light rail system and modern streetcars. The grant application centered on never laid. The mile-long structure The team proposed incorporating the the theme “Regional Connections— required extensive rehabilitation embedded track guidelines from the Linking Livability.” The idea of because of its advanced age and 2012 American Railway Engineering integrating housing, employment and extensive concrete deterioration both and Maintenance-of-Way Association rail transit through the linkage of the aesthetically and structurally. The (AREMA) manual to better serve Dallas central business district with the SW/C design-build team performed a the Dallas Streetcar design and walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods of comprehensive inspection to identify construction. These guidelines allowed Oak Cliff allowed this project to stand necessary repairs and convey proposed the streetcar vehicle to negotiate tighter out among the other 17,000 TIGER rehabilitation strategies to the State curve radii found in neighborhood grant applicants. Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO). roadways. The improved turn radius In 2010, Dallas Area Rapid Transit Strengthening the 104-year-old reduced the reconstruction limits (DART) selected the Stacy and structure required the team to perform of existing roadway pavement and Witbeck/Carcon Industries (SW/C) in-depth, 3-D finite-element analyses associated utility infrastructure rework, team, with lead designer HDR, to to verify the viaduct’s load-rating minimizing construction impacts on design and build the $56.5 million capacity. This 3-D modeling was local businesses and residents.

12 Winter 2016 | TM&E WWW.TMEMAG.COM | TM&E 13 Track installation at the intersection of Colorado and Zang (DART). technique during construction. Normal development. No bus line or major the father of Portland’s streetcar construction of embedded track would road created in the past 30 years in system, is quoted as saying, “You have require thermite welding. However, Dallas has triggered as much walkable to get a stake in the ground . . . the first with close to 300 welds on the job development as the Dallas Streetcar few miles won’t make any sense, but the and each thermite weld taking up to has spurred in Oak Cliff. Unlike momentum will build and slowly the four hours for the fit-up and welding city bus routes, which can be altered network will take shape.” process, the SW/C design-build team at any time, a streetcar line brings And he was right. Today, the Dallas developed a faster alternative. By permanence and gives confidence to Streetcar project is helping the Oak using custom-built flash butt welding investors to build new businesses and Cliff community place that stake in the equipment, they determined that three residents along it. Local businesses ground, providing the most important or four flash welds could be done in have embraced the walkable district and costly streetcar elements: an hour. Flash butt welding ultimately idea with small businesses, bike lanes, two modern “off-wire” streetcars, allowed the project team to cut the cafe seating and enhanced foot traffic. connection to Union Station, tie-in to average weld time down from up to Other U.S. cities, like Portland, have DART’s maintenance yard and a viable four hours to less than 20 minutes. discovered that private investment Trinity River floodplain crossing. Multiplied across the nearly 300 follows streetcar development. The stake will only deepen as Bishop welds on the project, flash welding is The Dallas Streetcar officially Arts and Dallas Convention Center estimated to have saved around 1,100 began operation on April 13, 2015, area stops are completed in 2016 and hours (45 days) of construction time. after almost 10 years of community beyond. Through this project, the involvement to restore its lost heritage. Oak Cliff community will restore a Ultimately, it’s about Streetcars are back in Dallas and the small piece of its heritage and return community familiar sound of the streetcar bell its beautifully sculpted boulevards Properties along the streetcar that went dormant 60 years ago is now and neighborhoods to their former alignment are in high demand ringing again throughout the Oak grandeur. TM&E for redevelopment, and numerous Cliff community. other properties are in transition On the Oak Cliff Transit Authority Quintero is a professional associate/senior from brownfields to mixed-use website, project advisor Rick Gustafson, bridge designer with HDR.

14 Winter 2016 | TM&E