CityLine/Bush station

CityLine/Bush
CityLine/Bush
	Light rail platforms in 2020, prior to start of Silver Line construction
General information
Location	1300 East President George Bush Highway; Richardson, Texas
Coordinates	33°0′8″N 96°42′11″W / 33.00222°N 96.70306°W
Owned by	Dallas Area Rapid Transit
Platforms	2 side platforms
Connections	DART: 232, 245, 883-UTD Comet Cruiser (M-Sun), East Telecom GoLink Zone (M-Sun)
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Parking	1,193 spaces
Bicycle facilities	Bike racks
Accessible	Yes
History
Opened	December 9, 2002
Previous names	Bush Turnpike
Services
Future services
Location
Location

CityLine/Bush station (formerly Bush Turnpike station) is a DART Light Rail station in Richardson, Texas. The station is located on a frontage road of President George Bush Turnpike (SH 190) about 1⁄3 mile (0.54 km) east of its interchange with North Central Expressway (US 75). The station serves the Red Line and, during peak periods, the Orange Line.^[1] The station will also serve the Silver Line commuter rail service once it is completed.^[3]

The station serves the mixed-use development CityLine, and it is also a park-and-ride lot for commuters using PGBT. A shuttle route, dubbed the Comet Cruiser, connects the station to the University of Texas at Dallas.^[4]

History

Planning and construction

Original plans for the North Central Corridor Extension, which consisted of the modern-day Red Line north of Park Lane, included a station located near the Bush Turnpike/North Central interchange. The station was deferred to a secondary build-out phase,^[5] which would occur between 2006 and 2011. DART determined four possible locations, three in Plano and one in Richardson.^[6]

In 2000, DART selected the Richardson location and opted to construct the station alongside the rest of the Red Line, as it would be more expensive to defer it.^[7] The station opened on December 9, 2002 alongside the Downtown Plano and Parker Road stations.^[2]

Parking

Bush Turnpike station opened with 825 parking spaces, were located under an elevated segment of PGBT.^[8] This made Bush Turnpike the only DART station to have covered parking. The opening of Bush Turnpike and Parker Road ended parking capacity issues at Arapaho Center, which had previously been the northernmost station with parking.^[9] In 2007, DART added 380 additional spaces.^[10]

In 2012, DART introduced a paid parking initiative at Parker Road station, which would charge a daily fee to riders that were not residents of a DART member city. Because the initiative did not apply to Bush Turnpike station, many commuters moved to parking there, with an estimated 300 additional cars per day. In response, DART considered adding the parking fee to Bush Turnpike.^[11] This did not occur, and the parking initiative was ended in 2014.

Development

At opening, the area surrounding Bush Turnpike station was undeveloped. The vacant nature of the land served as inspiration for the station's design, which sported a rustic theme with several 20-foot (6.1 m) illuminated topiaries.^[2]^[8]^[12]

In 2010, Parliament Group, which owned 300 acres of land east of the station, announced plans for a large mixed-use development on the land, which would include residential, office, and retail space.^[13]^[14] In 2012, it was announced that insurance firm State Farm would lease office space at the development.^[15]

Construction of the development, named CityLine, started in 2013 with a projected completion date of 2015.^[16] On March 14, 2016, the station was renamed to CityLine/Bush after the development.^[17]

Cotton Belt/Silver Line

In 1990, DART obtained a former St. Louis Southwestern rail corridor for use as a potential commuter rail corridor. The 54-mile (87 km) corridor, nicknamed the Cotton Belt, ran from Fort Worth to Wylie, passing just north of Richardson through Plano.^[18] The corridor was divided between DART and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, with DART's segment containing all parts of the corridor east of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

In 2010, the city of Plano proposed 12th Street, a new station that would serve as the eastern terminus of the corridor. Following this, the city of Richardson announced two proposals that would integrate Bush Turnpike to the line. One proposal would eliminate 12th Street entirely, instead routing the line south to Bush Turnpike. The other would divert the line south to Bush Turnpike, then run it northward to 12th Street.^[19]^[20]

In 2018, DART approved a commuter rail service on the Cotton Belt corridor, which was named the Silver Line. The approved plan included both the Bush Turnpike and 12th Street stations using a southern diversion based on Richardson's proposal. The diversion required the creation of a bridge over North Central Expressway, which was paid for by both Richardson and DART.^[21]

Construction of the line began in 2019,^[22] and it is expected to open by 2026.^[23] The Silver Line platforms at CityLine/Bush will be directly adjacent to the existing light rail platforms, with a green space and several decorative arches connecting them.^[24]