Copyright by Evan Charles Tenenbaum 2016 The Report Committee for Evan Charles Tenenbaum Certifies that this is the approved version of the following report: Identifying Opportunities for Corridor Transit-Oriented Development along the DART Rail in Dallas, Texas APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE: Ming Zhang, Supervisor Paul Adams Identifying Opportunities for Corridor Transit-Oriented Development along the DART Rail in Dallas, Texas by Evan Charles Tenenbaum, BA, BA Report Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Community and Regional Planning The University of Texas at Austin December, 2016 Dedication To Mom, Dad, and Robyn. Without all of the love and support you have given me over the years, I would not have continued to strive for excellence. Acknowledgements The journey to where I am today has been arduous, but well worth the struggle. I’d like to acknowledge my advisors for my Professional Report, Ming Zhang and Paul Adams. Two professors who have guided me among my collegiate path for the past five years, Dr. Adams in undergraduate, and Dr. Zhang in graduate, for who I could not be more thankful for inspiring me to pursue my field and driving me to excel. I thank all of the academic mentors, professors, and instructors that challenged me to take the extra step in my academic career at the University of Texas. I’d like to thank Jeffrey Brandon, Matthew Cavallino, and Kevin Forma from the New York City Department of Transportation for introducing me to working within a public agency and making me feel welcome in New York, a city I didn’t know but was eager to learn about and experience. I thank Chad Edwards for mentoring me during my time within the Capital Planning office at DART in the summer of 2015, and for providing the inspiration for me in the decision of the topic of this report. Special thanks to Philip Johnson for providing me the passenger ridership and other transit data needed for this report. Also, thank you to the professionals I interviewed for this report: Krystle Nelinson, Dan Johnson, Peter Braster, Christina Day, Jack Wierzenski, and Scott Rohrman. I’d like to thank all of the colleagues and friends I’ve met within the Community and Regional Planning Program since I started in the fall of 2014. I appreciate your perspectives within the field I had never considered, and I appreciate you struggling along the way with me. Finally, I’d like to thank all family and friends, both in Dallas and in Austin, for keeping me grounded and making me who I am. v Abstract Identifying Opportunities for Corridor Transit-Oriented Development along the DART Rail in Dallas, Texas Evan Charles Tenenbaum, MSCRP The University of Texas at Austin, 2016 Supervisor: Ming Zhang Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), is beginning preparations for two major transit investments within the Dallas-Fort Worth Area: a commuter rail dubbed the Cotton Belt, to the benefit of suburban member cities, and a second alignment within downtown dubbed D2, a subway to relief congestion in Downtown, to the benefit of urbanists and local riders within the urban core. The board has been pressured by both to commit to set aside the other in favor for the project that benefits them the most, and the agency struggle to balance interests between the suburban commuter and serving areas of Dallas that need transit investment. To maintain ridership in a continued sprawling metropolitan area, DART hopes to take advantage of creating and improving Transit Oriented Development projects across the system in collaboration with member cities and willing developers. This report attempts to examine the agency’s process in developing TOD, and to determine opportunities for the agency to implement Corridor-level TOD that can help address region-wide issues. Using land use, ridership, socio-demographic, and infrastructure vi characteristics of the existing light rail stations within a corridor, and insight from a series of conducted interviews with professionals in the area, a typology can be made for the development within the light rail corridors, along with recommendation for investment for improvement of those corridors. vii Table of Contents List of Tables ........................................................................................................ xii List of Figures ...................................................................................................... xiii List of Maps ......................................................................................................... xiv Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................1 RESEARCH PURPOSE ......................................................................................3 Chapter 2: Defining TOD ......................................................................................6 TOD DEFINITION ...........................................................................................6 PLACE-MAKING AND DESIGN .........................................................................8 TYPOLOGY ......................................................................................................9 IMPLEMENTATION METHODS ......................................................................11 CORRIDORS AND LAND USE .........................................................................12 Chapter 3: Corridor TOD Concept....................................................................16 ARRANGEMENT ............................................................................................17 ACCESSIBILITY .............................................................................................19 TYPES OF CORRIDOR TOD ..........................................................................20 FURTHER TYPOLOGY EXPANSION ...............................................................22 INDICATORS FOR CORRIDOR TOD ..............................................................24 MODELS OF CORRIDOR TOD ......................................................................28 Curitiba ...............................................................................................29 Washington Metro .............................................................................31 Chapter 4: Dallas Rail .........................................................................................34 ORIGIN ..........................................................................................................34 CURRENT TOD PROJECTS ...........................................................................37 CORRIDOR TOD IN DALLAS ........................................................................41 DART EXPANSION AND TOD ......................................................................43 Chapter 5: Methodology......................................................................................45 STUDY AREA .................................................................................................45 viii INDICATOR ANALYSES .................................................................................46 INDICATORS ..................................................................................................47 Demographic Indicators ....................................................................47 Bike and Pedestrian Connection Indicators ....................................47 Connectivity Indicators .....................................................................48 Station Performance Indicators ........................................................49 Mix Indicators ....................................................................................49 Density .................................................................................................51 INTERVIEW ANALYSIS ..................................................................................52 Chapter 6: Results and Findings ........................................................................54 DEMOGRAPHY ..............................................................................................54 Household Size ...................................................................................54 Population Change .............................................................................55 Employment Change .........................................................................55 MHI Change .......................................................................................56 Age Demographics .............................................................................57 Education Demographics ..................................................................57 Transportation ...................................................................................58 CONNECTIVITY .............................................................................................60 Pedestrian Network ...........................................................................60 Other Transit ......................................................................................61 Park and Rides ...................................................................................62 STATION PERFORMANCE..............................................................................63 STATION MIX ................................................................................................68 Variance ..............................................................................................69