DART station showing the proposed structure.
Obstacles City work requires an open bidding/vetting process. We were propositioned to do the project last minute without going through a public bidding process, which ultimately led to us working as a subcontractor under the DART line contractor. Although we got around the bidding/vetting process, we opened ourselves up to having to jump through the hoops of DART’s contractor. Our proposed structure needed to meet the city requirements for an occupied structure, which meant meeting ADA, fire ratings, building codes, building permits, inspections and certificates of occupancy. In fact, we were required to have structural engineered drawings for the structure and foundation. We were shocked to realize that there weren’t reduced requirements for temporary structures or open-air structures of this small size.
Working with DART is a gauntlet of hoops to jump through, and to some extent, rightfully so due to safety risks of working on or near the rail lines and overhead power lines. The issue we ran into is that DART management is broken into mutiple sectors, each with their own requirements and review/approval processes. Because of this, there was a severe lack of transparency in what the requirements were and who was responsible for reviewing and approving various aspects of the design/construction. Despite asking repeatedly, we never received a comprehensive list of DART requirements for transit stop structure. This was arguably our biggest hurdle...
City funding for projects like this can come from multiple city entities, each with their respective additional requirements on how the money can be spent. In this case, the city was paying for the temporary trolley stop through DART funds. We didn’t find out until the end of the process that these were federal funds (TIGER) with requirements and stipulations in addition to the DART and city imposed requirements.
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