Construction On DART's Cotton Belt Silver Line Leads To Close Call For Dallas City Council Member
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A huge construction project through three North Texas counties is under scrutiny over whether it's putting residents in danger.
It started with a close call between a Dallas city council member in a car and an elderly pedestrian.
DART's new Cotton Belt Silver Line will offer Collin and North Dallas counties a direct rail service route to DFW Airport.
But Dallas City Counci lmember Cara Mendelsohn says the transportation agency needs to be more respectful of the neighborhoods it's building the line through.
Over the weekend, Mendelsohn says she narrowly avoided hitting an 80-year-old woman who was walking in a lane of traffic on Knoll Trail in Far North Dallas.
"As we're coming up over the hill on Knoll Trail, suddenly the woman was in our traffic lane so I stomped on the brakes," says Mendelsohn.
The District 12 council member tells CBS 11 News that she had to swerve to miss the elderly woman who was walking in the lane of traffic because construction work on the new DART rail Cotton Belt Silver Line.
"I'm really worried," she says. "I was almost the person that hit someone. I'm worried for the residents being injured I'm worried for, the motorists. This is something dangerous."
Jody Pearson says she walks the route everyday from her apartment to her job.
"It's a mess for lack of a better word," says Pearson, "every day I worry, and some days there's been some close calls."
DART released a statement to CBS 11 News saying the transportation agency and its architect "…are currently reviewing the intersection at Knoll Trail Drive to ensure the construction is safe and have removed the sidewalk closed signs to prevent any further confusion."
The councilmember posted about her close call on Twitter saying it could have been tragic.
Mendelsohn says she's has safety concerns about more than a half dozen other intersections in her district where construction on the rail line will soon begin.
"I wanna make sure that every crossing that DART is working on with the Cotton Belt safe.
This is just the first of eight intersections where this rail will be at grade and I'm really concerned about their safety performance," says Mendelsohn.
The Dallas City Manager's Office has been notified about the construction complaints.
The Cotton Belt Silver Line is projected to open in 2024.
