Why is Joppa still waiting for a safe crossing?

The residents of Joppa are always waiting.

The neighborhood waited for Dallas, their city, to notice them and invest in them. Joppa residents waited for a bridge over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks that would allow commuters and ambulance vehicles to enter and exit the neighborhood without being blocked by trains. This bridge finally opened in 2006, but with no facilities for pedestrians or cyclists, forcing it to venture across the tracks on Linfield Road. When the railway closed these tracks in 2018, a pedestrian bridge was promised.

Residents are still waiting for this bridge and will have to wait even longer than planned. Though construction should be completed at some point by the end of 2023, the city now says it is expected to start construction later this year. The good news is that this week DART launched the on-demand driving service that the Transportation Agency and the city of Dallas approved last year.

The city council allocated $ 500,000 to the three-year Joppa Rides program to enable car-free residents of Joppa to drive in and out of the neighborhood while the pedestrian bridge is being built. There is currently only one DART bus route running through the neighborhood and only during rush hour. That route will be phased out in January, but DART is adding Joppa to GoLink – a curb-to-curb service that takes DART customers in a specific area to a nearby train station – starting December 6th.

We commend DART for working with local residents to find out which drop-off and pick-up locations make the most sense for Joppa Rides. The agency said last year it would take residents to six destinations but ultimately picked 15 locations that neighbors said would be the most helpful. These include the DART Ledbetter Station, the Dallas VA Medical Center, the Fiesta Mart on South Lancaster Road, the Oak Cliff Boys and Girls Club and the WW Bushman Elementary School.

“We were very excited to expand this,” said WW Bushman Elementary School, adding that the agency has held nearly a dozen meetings with neighborhood organizations. “There has been a lot of work with our community groups identifying the areas that they think residents need to visit regularly.”

Joppa residents must register with DART and provide evidence that they live in the neighborhood in order to access on-demand rides. Shattles said the agency had sent applications to all Joppa residents. You can also register online. Once registered, residents can request two free trips per day via the Uber app or by calling DART.

Meanwhile, the city of Dallas is in the final stages of finding an engineering firm for the pedestrian bridge, with a contract award expected in early 2022 and pending council approval, a city spokeswoman said. She said changes in federal funding for the program affected the original construction schedule.

With construction now postponed to 2023, it will likely be at least three years before Joppa gets its footbridge.

Shattles said DART will stay in touch with Joppa organizations and churches throughout the life of the on-demand driving program to promote service and get input from residents.

Joppa deserves that kind of attention. We hope that the pedestrian bridge will be treated with the same care.

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