WGI was engaged as part of a consultant team with Interface Studio and Ninigret Partners to complete a Transit-Oriented Demand (TOD) planning document with the City of Richardson centering around 1,200 acres near 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, and parking supply and demand.

WGI led and 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. We also worked with City 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 the data collection and the proposed changes in land uses, a number of changes were recommended 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, implementation (and modification) of the City’s Bicycle Plan, and coordination with DART regarding potential changes to the bus operations at the existing station.

We 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). We engaged the City in a number of options for tactical urbanism-style tests of potential bicycle lane designs for both neighborhood collector streets and main arterials to help build additional stakeholder support and provide proof of concept.