As part of a design-build team, Dallas-based Parsons Brinckerhoff was awarded a contract to provide engineering design services for an extension of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s Blue Line light-rail transit system.

The contract is with Dallas-based Austin Bridge & Road LP, which has been selected by DART to be the design-builder for the project. PB will serve as the lead engineering firm, providing civil, trackwork, structural, architectural, geotechnical, traffic and certain systems engineering design services.

The project runs from the existing downtown Dallas Garland LRT station to a new downtown Rowlett LRT station. It will consist of 4.5 mi of double-track LRT along the existing DART right-of-way that parallels the Dallas Garland and Northeastern Railroad freight tracks.

Portions of the alignment will be elevated over rail, cross streets and waterways. The Rowlett LRT station site will be designed to accommodate an at-grade platform and park-and-ride facility with 800 parking spaces. A bus transfer facility within the site will include multiple bus bays.

Construction is scheduled to begin this year, with service starting December 2012.