Mike Morris

Space, The Final Frontier

North Texas is Angling for a Light Rail Manufacturing Plant (Translation: Jobs!)

When the Denton County Transportation Authority was shopping for rail cars for its A-train commuter line in 2009, it settled on 11 diesel-electric vehicles manufactured in Europe by Stadler, a company based in Switzerland. The cars are quieter, more fuel efficient and more spacious than the light ra ... More >>

No, Alf Doesn't Count As Video Art

Get Smarter, Pay Nothing.

Soon You Might Need Two Lifelike Dummies to Use DFW's HOV Lanes

Since they were put in place a decade or two ago, use of Dallas-area HOV lanes has required having only two people per vehicle. The idea was to encourage carpooling but not make the requirement so onerous that the lanes would sit empty. In that regard at least, the plan seems to have been successfu ... More >>

The Bogus 'Detour' Argument for the Trinity Toll Road is Finally Dead

Wait. Click the pause button. Freeze this. There's a huge point here that some people do not want us to notice. In the last 24 hours, the entire debate about the Trinity River toll road has completely shifted ground. I was just now on the phone about it with City Council member Scott Griggs. He poi ... More >>

Mayor Mike's Version of Regionalism: Selling out Dallas to the 'Burbs

In his speech last week endorsing a new highway in the Trinity River flood zone, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings threw down a gauntlet. It was sort of a buried line. I guess not everybody heard it. I did. He said at one point, "I'm a regionalist," and then he said of people who oppose his view, "For tho ... More >>

Finally, We Nail the Real Reason Dallas Needs That Trinity Toll Road

OK, look, just see if you can follow me here, because I need to know if I am following myself. You tell me. Michael Morris, a regional transportation official who gets quoted, has always said we need to build a new super-highway along the Trinity River, walling it off from downtown, because the new ... More >>

Gold Star Installation

Texas Transpo Commission Gives OK to Move Ahead With $700-Mil Redo Of IH-30, IH-35E

​Moments ago, Ed Pensock, the interim director of the Texas Turnpike Authority, explained to the Texas Transportation Commission down in Austin why Dallas so desperately needs the so-called Horseshoe Project -- otherwise known as the redo of IH-30 and IH-35E over the Trinity River, once part of Pr ... More >>

"The Times Are A-Changin'": Hunt, Griggs Ask Pointed Questions About Trinity Toll Road

NCTCOG's Michael Morris​According to the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the Trinity Parkway will cost around $1.8 billion, give or take a few million. That money's not there. But, hey, what's the rush: As we mentioned this morning, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' environmental impac ... More >>

Ides of March: No Game Change

Intrigue drowns out argument in political thriller.

Imagine a DFW With Significantly Eased Traffic Congestion. In, Say, The Year 2035. Maybe?

North Central Texas Council of GovernmentsThink traffic is bad now? Click to embiggen the infographic of the future.​Speaking of mass transit ...Today the Regional Transportation Council of the North Central Texas Council of Governments met with the local citizenry at a public meeting at the p ... More >>

"Big A, Meet the Even Bigger D"

​For the second time in as many days, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution pits The ATL against The City of Hate -- a common occurrence -- and rules in favor of Dallas, in part because we have toll roads to help pay for regional light rail projects that run to the suburbs, which is but a figment of a ... More >>

Roger Staubach Says Super Bowl Seat Fiasco Was "a Horrible Mistake," But NFL Assured Him of Second Chance for North Texas

Photo by Sam MertenRoger Staubach at City Hall this morning​As reporters gathered around Roger Staubach following this morning's launch of Mike Rawlings's mayoral campaign at Dallas City Hall, questions inevitably shifted to his thoughts about the approximately 400 fans that were denied seats ... More >>

If FW Passes on Feds' $25 Mil Transpo Grant, Dallas Wants For Streetcars. Good Luck.

University of Texas at Arlington LibraryMain and Akard, circa 1953​The city council's Transportation and Environment Committee meeting just wrapped, with Assistant City Manager A.C. Gonzalez updating the council on the status of streetcars. Read all about it. But in the middle of Gonzalez's presen ... More >>

O, Modern and Beautiful History

Maybe One of the Few Times We'll Use "Cotton Bowl" and "Super Bowl" in Same Sentence

​Been meaning to get to this for a couple of days, ever since the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee sent out its weekly newsletter that said, at the very top:TOM LANDRY SUPER BOWL HIGHWAY: On Tuesday, June 15 at 3:30 p.m., the Host Committee along with Alicia Landry will officially announc ... More >>

When It Comes to the Trinity River Project, History Keeps Repeating Itself, Repeating Itself

John W. Carpenter Papers, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library,Ben Carpenter, son of John, is the one seen here pointing to a Trinity River canal master plan​Your Trinity River correspondent and advice-to-the-lovelorn columnist, which would be me, had two interesting e ... More >>

The New Dallas Zoo Revue Will Be Coming Right at You By No Later Than October 1

​If the discussion at Dallas City Hall today is any indication, that outta-nowhere proposal to privatize the Dallas Zoo and the Aquarium at Fair Park is all but a done deal. Expect the city to turn over the keys to the Dallas Zoological Society by October 1 following a vote next week by the city c ... More >>

Richard Allen brings jobs to the black community.That makes him racist?

Go Home, GOP|Money For Nothing|Corrections

What's Commish John Wiley Price's Real Beef With the Inland Port?

Paying the Toll, One Road at a Time

Roads to Nowhere

Warning You Now: A Lot of Math Ahead

Michael Morris, King of the Roads

Sweet/Sour Grapes on Trinity Referendum Results

I'm either happy, sad or still churning out column inches on the Trinity, depending on how things turned out

The "Vengeance" of the Trinity Pavers

Fresh Eyes

Basically, it's Coats versus the Manchurian Candidate

Eye Candy

It's overpriced, it's gaudy and we have to put it on a credit card. Yep, that Calatrava bridge says Dallas all over.

Deep Sixed

Reports of Deep Ellum's death are exaggerated, but not by much

Belly Up

Tom Landis unloads Deep Ellum Texadelphia

Out With the Old, in With the Blues

More changes in Deep Ellum

They Just Wanna Dance

Is that so wrong, Mayor Mom?

Can't Boogie No More

Club owners fear the city may put a stop to dancing the night away

Corner Pocket

Consolidated set to acquire Bamboo Bamboo space

Rouging the Corpse

Miller wants to pretty-up a stinker on the Trinity River deal

Idiot's Highway

That toll road they want for the Trinity is a loser

Kings of Clubs

The coke-drenched era of nightclubs is over, but now a new group of entrepreneurs is ready to reinvent the scene

X marks the spot

A plan to rename Oakland Avenue for Malcolm X raises cries of racism in Deep Ellum

BeloWatch

Two for the road

Martini Ranch mixes dozens of variations of the world's most famous cocktail