DART Irving Orange Line Expansion

Irving, Texas

The $585 million DART Orange Line Expansion project included design and construction for a total of 14.5 miles of light rail double-track guideway, five complete stations, and three deferred stations where only the foundations were constructed. Kiewit and Reyes were both part of the Joint Venture prime contractor team for this project. IEA Inc. worked with Kiewit, the lead prime contractor, on both the I-1/2 and I-3 projects.

The I-1/I-2 segment was comprised of 9.2 miles of track (including 2.3 miles of elevated track) from Bachman Station on the Green Line in northwest Dallas to Belt Line Road, located south of DFW Airport. As part of one of the most significant rail expansion programs in the nation, this segment of the Orange Line features eight bridges, five stations with parking lots, 58,000 track feet of ballasted track, 24,700 track feet of direct fix track, 14,600 track feet of embedded track, six traction power substations, and all systems, signals, and communications work. The I-1/I-2 segment runs through the heavily populated urban areas of Irving and Las Colinas, requiring extensive utility investigation and public information efforts. The line extends over several TxDOT highways including northbound and southbound IH-35 and eastbound and westbound SH 114. In addition, the alignment also extends over the SH 161 frontage roads (TxDOT) and President George Bush Turnpike (NTTA). Coordination with DFW Airport was also a key element of the project, as a significant portion of the I-2 segment is on DFW Airport Property.

I-3 segment extended the Orange Line with 5.2 miles of track. The scope of work included five bridges, three multi-barrel box culverts, multiple utility relocations and improvements, the construction of approximately 3,000 ft. of a four-lane divided roadway, and all systems, signals, and communications work. The stations constructed as part of the Orange Line Expansions Project included drilled shaft foundations, castin-place (CIP) footing and grade beams, concrete platforms, structural steel canopies, metal deck roofing, overhead catenary systems, signals and communications backbones, ticket vending machines, variable message boards, passenger emergency call devices, and station pavers.