The City of Richardson, TX received a 2019 Celebrating Leadership in Development Excellence (CLIDE) Award from the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) for its innovative visioning effort known as the Collins/Arapaho Transit-Oriented Development and Innovation District Study (Vision Study). The Celebrating Leadership in Development Excellence (CLIDE) Awards Program was created in 2003 to encourage innovative development projects and practices that will help accommodate expected growth and ensure a sustainable North Texas for generations to come. The CLIDE Awards Program does this by recognizing private and public development programs and projects that exemplify the principles of development excellence.

WGI was engaged as part of a consultant team to complete the transit-oriented demand planning study with the City, centering around the Arapaho DART Station. In this study, WGI conducted significant data collection regarding transit usage, pedestrian and bicycle facilities throughout the area, vehicle speeds and volumes, arterial operations, and parking supply and demand. WGI participated in several outreach efforts, including surveys to both the business community and residents of the area, pop-up events at local offices and major employers, open houses for the entire City, and a series of meetings with the City Council, the City’s Chamber of Commerce, and major landowners in the area.

WGI also worked with the City’s planning and engineering staff to review standards and ordinances that are prohibiting the City from the progressive vision they have for this area. Based on data collection and the proposed changes in land uses, WGI recommended a number of changes to the right-of-way that involved negotiating with members of the community, City Council, planning department staff, and transportation and public works staff. These recommendations centered around additional at-grade pedestrian crossings, road diets, signal timing changes, and other operations adjustments, implementation (and modification) of the City’s bicycle plan, and coordination with DART regarding potential changes to the bus operations at the existing station. WGI also provided a number of options for evaluating and potentially funding these changes, as well as proposing changes to the City’s land development code and other engineering standards to better reflect the current vision for the area (such as decreasing off-site parking requirements).

For more information about Richardson’s Collins/Arapaho Transit-Oriented Development & Innovation District Study, visit the City’s microsite Here.