Arapaho Center station
Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox station
Arapaho Center station (formerly Richardson Transit Center) is an intermodal public transit station in Richardson, Texas. Operated by Dallas Area Rapid Transit, the station services DART's Template:DART R and three bus routes. During peak periods, the station also services the Template:DART O.<ref name="Station Guide" /> The facility is DART's main bus transfer center in Richardson and includes an indoor waiting area.
The station is located at the intersection of Greenville Avenue and Arapaho Road, one block east of North Central Expressway (US 75). It services the Richardson Civic Center complex and the southern portions of Richardson's Telecom Corridor, including facilities for Honeywell and Verizon.<ref name="Station Guide" /> A bus route at the station provides service to the University of Texas at Dallas.
Station
Arapaho Center station consists of both a bus transfer facility and a rail station, which are located on opposite sides of Greenville Avenue. The bus side of the facility includes a large parking lot, two air-conditioned waiting rooms, and restrooms.Template:Citation needed
A short pedestrian tunnel under Greenville Avenue connects the bus and rail platforms.<ref name="Arapaho Center Opening" /> A street-level signaled crosswalk is also available. At the bus-side entrance to the crosswalk is an Template:Convert reproduction of Hans Van de Bovenkamp's sculpture Gateway and matching benches.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
History
Richardson Transit Center
DART first began bus service to Richardson in 1984 with an express bus route to Downtown Dallas. The route used Richardson Terrace Shopping Center as a temporary park-and-ride lot.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1989, DART broke ground on Richardson Transit Center, a $2 million parking lot and indoor waiting facility that would replace the Richardson Terrace park-and-ride. The facility opened the following year on August 27, 1990.<ref name="Richardson Transit Center Opening" /> It was the fourth indoor facility to be built by DART,<ref name="Richardson Transit Center Opening" /> after South Irving Transit Center, North Carrollton Transit Center, and West Plano Transit Center.
Arapaho Center
Original plans for the rail platforms at Richardson Transit Center called for a signaled pedestrian crosswalk to the parking lot and bus facility. Due to safety concerns, DART and the city opted to build a tunnel between the two platforms. The construction of the tunnel also led to improvements to the Arapaho/Greenville intersection, such as the addition of turn lanes.<ref name="Arapaho Center Opening" />
On June 29, 2002, DART held an event, Super Saturday, at Arapaho Center and Forest Lane station to celebrate the Red Line's next extension, which would run from Park Lane to Galatyn Park. The extension, which included Arapaho Center, was officially inaugurated the following Monday.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
When its rail service opened, Arapaho Center was the northernmost Red Line station with a park-and-ride lot, which resulted in the station's lot regularly exceeding capacity on workdays.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Parking concerns at Arapaho subsided in December 2002 following the Red Line's next extension, which added two more park-and-ride stations (namely Bush Turnpike and Parker Road) to the line.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
References
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External links
Template:Richardson, Texas Template:Dallas Area Rapid Transit stations navbox