July 20, 2015 (Arlington, Texas) – With easy access to IH 30 and near major interchanges with north-south roads, the free park-and-ride lot in Grand Prairie is en route to major employment destinations and popular sports and entertainment attractions, making it ideal for North Texans carpooling to work and special events.
The new park and ride lot with 328 spaces is accessible from IH 30 Belt Line Road exits today, and ultimately, it will also connect to entrances and exits of managed toll/HOV lanes on IH 30, which are under construction. Carpoolers may leave cars parked for the day, and two regional resources, www.tryparkingit.com and www.dfwconnectaride.com, help North Texans find carpools or vanpools for work and special events, respectively.
Try Parking It focuses on commuters and matching carpoolers and vanpoolers with similar work trips. DFW Connect a Ride focuses on real-time ridesharing for occasional carpooling needs to work, popular destinations and/or special events.
Beyond standing out for its regional access and central location, the park-and-ride lot features a 233-foot recycled glass Prairie Ribbon mosaic of native grasses and bluebonnets. The mosaic includes an estimated 780,000 one-inch tiles. Fort Worth artist Pamela Summers designed the artwork installed by 10 participants in the City of Grand Prairie’s Weed and Seed program that provides qualified ex-offenders job training. In the process, participants learned about art, photography and tile. A grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and donations from local sponsors funded the mosaic.
The park-and-ride lot was a joint project between the City of Grand Prairie and the Regional Transportation Council.
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From Fort Worth/Arlington on Eastbound IH 30:
Take Exit 34 for Belt Line Road
Keep right for IH 30 Frontage Road Enter the facility on the right
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From Dallas/Irving on Westbound on IH 30:
Take Exit 34 for Belt Line Road
Merge onto IH 30 Frontage Road
Take the Texas U-turn from the left lane to get on the Eastbound IH 30 Frontage Road
Enter the facility on the right
About the North Central Texas Council of Governments:
NCTCOG is a voluntary association of local governments established in 1966 to assist local governments in planning for common needs, cooperating for mutual benefit and coordinating for sound regional development. NCTCOG’s purpose is to strengthen both the individual and collective power of local governments and to help them recognize regional opportunities, eliminate unnecessary duplication and make joint decisions.
NCTCOG serves a 16-county region of North Central Texas, which is centered on the two urban centers of Dallas and Fort Worth. Currently, NCTCOG has 238 member governments including 16 counties, 169 cities, 22 school districts and 31 special districts. For more information on the NCTCOG Transportation Department, visit www.nctcog.org/trans.
About the Regional Transportation Council:
The Regional Transportation Council (RTC) of the North Central Texas Council of Governments has served as the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for regional transportation planning in the Dallas-Fort Worth area since 1974. The MPO works in cooperation with the region’s transportation providers to address the complex transportation needs of the rapidly growing metropolitan area. The Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area includes Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant and Wise counties. The RTC’s 44 members include local elected or appointed officials from the metropolitan area and representatives from each of the area’s transportation providers.
