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Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) expects the opening of the Orange Line’s first segment to be pushed back up to eight months because of utility relocation delays associated with the Texas Department of Transportation’s work on portions of State Highway 114.

DART and DOT staffs continue to work on shortening the delay and no new opening date has been set for the new 9.3-mile light-rail line’s initial segment. However, based on the highway project’s current status, the Orange Line’s first segment from Bachman Station to Las Colinas likely would open in August 2012 instead of December 2011, said DART officials in a prepared statement. A second segment from Las Colinas to Belt Line had been projected to open one year after the first segment’s opening, while a final segment from Belt Line to the DFW Airport was scheduled to open in December 2013.

Sections of the new highway will be adjacent to the Orange Line. The transit agency needs access to portions of the construction area where the rail line and highway will intersect, DART officials said.

“There are two construction windows to allow DART to complete that work,” they said. “Since one of those windows will not be met as anticipated, DART will have to delay construction and the planned opening of the Orange Line.”