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North Dallas roadway to close for a year for DART Silver line construction

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A portion of a major thoroughfare in North Dallas is about to be shut down for a year: Beginning Thursday, January 25, a portion of Hillcrest Road between McCallum Boulevard and Wester Way in North Dallas will be closed for a 52-week period as construction continues for the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Silver Line project.

DART and the City of Dallas have agreed to close the 1/5-mile section of Hillcrest Road to ensure the utmost safety for both the public and work crews while a grade separated rail crossing at Hillcrest is being constructed. The 52-week closure will begin on Thursday, January 25, 2024 and last until January 24, 2025. There will be no access to Hillcrest Road between McCallum Boulevard and Wester Way during this time.

Detours will be in place to direct commuter traffic to Coit Road on the east, and Preston Road on the west of Hillcrest Road. There will be limited access from McKamy Boulevard. To ensure safety for area residents, Dallas Fire Rescue (DFR) and the Dallas Police Department (DPD) will have emergency access at several locations throughout the construction site.

The Hillcrest Road closure is near the City of Richardson border and the area is within Plano Independent School District attendance zones. DART has been in regular communication with city and school district officials in Richardson and Plano regarding construction updates and safety measures due to Silver Line work and the upcoming closure. DART also continues to provide updates to nearby cities who may have commuters that frequent the area. Digital road signs alerting drivers of the upcoming closure have been in place since late December.

“While we understand that this temporary road closure will be an inconvenience to commuters and the adjacent community, public safety will always be our primary focus,” said Dee Leggett, DART chief development officer. “Due to the limited work area and the extent of excavation necessary, we’re taking every possible precaution for the safety of drivers, pedestrians, and our construction teams. Our goal is to complete construction safely and quickly, so we can get traffic on Hillcrest Road back to normal while continuing to advance the Silver Line project.”

The DART Silver Line is a 26-mile commuter rail that traverses seven North Texas cities (Grapevine, Coppell, Dallas, Carrollton, Addison, Richardson, Plano) between DFW Airport and Shiloh Road in Plano. The regional rail alignment crosses three counties (Collin, Dallas, Tarrant) and will provide service to improve mobility and accessibility across the northern portion of the DART service area. DART Silver Line revenue service is scheduled to begin in late 2025 to mid-2026.

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Stretching the budget

A $100,000 salary in 2026 goes further in Dallas than it did last year

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A 2026 income study has good news for big earners in Dallas: A six-figure salary goes further than it did last year.

A Dallasite's $100,000 salary is worth $80,103 after taxes and adjusted for the local cost of living, according to the new financial analysis from SmartAsset. That's nearly 4 percent higher than last year, when the same salary had an adjusted value of $77,197.

Six-figure earners in Plano also got a slight — 2 percent — value boost to their salaries this year, the report revealed. A $100,000 salary in Plano is worth $72,653, compared to $71,372 last year.

SmartAsset used its paycheck calculator to apply federal, state and local taxes to an annual salary of $100,000 in 69 of the largest American cities. The figure was then adjusted for the local cost of living (which included average costs for housing, groceries, utilities, transportation, and miscellaneous goods and services). Cities were then ranked based on where a six-figure salary is worth the least after applicable taxes and cost of living adjustments.

Plano ranked 27th and Dallas ranked 47th in the overall ranking of U.S. cities where $100,000 is worth the least.

If the rankings were flipped and the cities were ranked based on where $100,000 goes the furthest, that places Dallas in the No. 22 spot and Plano as No. 43 nationally.

Manhattan, New York remains the No. 1 city where a six-figure salary is worth the least. A Manhattan resident's take-home pay is only worth $29,420 after taxes and adjusted for the cost of living, which is 3.10 percent lower than it was in 2025.

SmartAsset determined Manhattan has a 29.7 percent effective tax rate on six-figure salaries. Meanwhile, the effective tax rate on a $100,000 salary in Texas (based on the eight cities examined in the report) is 21.1 percent. It's worth highlighting that New York implements a statewide graduated-rate income tax from 4-10.90 percent, whereas Texas is one of only eight states that don't tax residents' income.

Oklahoma City, No. 69, is the U.S. city in the report where a $100,000 salary stretches the furthest. A six-figure salary is worth $91,868 in 2026, up from $89,989 last year.

This is the post-tax value of a $100,000 salary in other Texas cities, and their ranking in the report:

Austin (No. 53): $82,446
Lubbock (No. 59): $84,567
Houston (No. 60): $84,840
San Antonio (No. 62): $86,419
El Paso (No. 67): $90,276
Corpus Christi (No. 68): $91,110

According to the report, getting some "financial breathing room" by making six-figures really depends on where someone lives and what their lifestyle is. For residents living in the 42 states that levy some amount of income tax, their take-home pay dwindles further.

"And depending on how taxes are filed, reaching a $100,000 income may push a household from the 22 percent to 24 percent marginal tax bracket," the report's author wrote. "Meanwhile, locations with high costs across housing and everyday essentials may be less forgiving to a $100,000 income."

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Stretching the budget

A $100,000 salary in 2026 goes further in Dallas than it did last year