DALLAS - Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB), as part of a design-build team, was awarded a contract to provide engineering design services for an extension of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Blue Line light rail transit system (LRT). The contract is with Austin Bridge & Road, LP, which was selected by DART to be the design-builder for the project. PB will serve as the lead engineering firm, providing civil, trackwork, structural, architectural, geotechnical, traffic, and certain systems engineering design services.

The project runs from the existing Downtown Dallas Garland LRT station to a new Downtown Rowlett LRT station. It will consist of 4.5 miles of double-track LRT along the existing DART right-of-way that parallels the Dallas Garland and Northeastern Railroad freight tracks. Portions of the alignment will be elevated over rail, cross streets, and waterways.

The Downtown Rowlett LRT station site will be designed to accommodate an at-grade platform and park-and-ride facility that will accommodate 800 parking spaces. A bus transfer facility within the site will include multiple bus bays.

Construction on the project is scheduled to begin later this year, with revenue service starting in December 2012.