http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/DFWMetroplex

Dallas skyline

—Cindy Rachofsky "Bigger-than-life attitude: Think Cowboys Stadium. Incredible taste. Think Highland Park Village. Greatest cultural community: Think private funds raised for the AT&T Performing Arts Center."

—Todd Fiscus, founder of Todd Events I love the ballsiness of it all, how Dallas goes for it all.

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The Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area, most commonly known as "The Metroplex", "DFW", or the "Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex" (or, even more archaically, the Golden Triangle) is the Lone Star State's largest metropolitan area, the fourth largest in the USA, and the second largest (behind #2 - Los Angeles) to be contained entirely within one state note As #1 NYC spills over into New Jersey and Connecticut and metro Chicago (#3) has outer suburbs in Indiana and Wisconsin.. DFW sprang up along the diamond-shaped swath of land where I-35 splits into Eastern and Western corridors 35 miles south of the Oklahoma border, and continues a good 100 miles southward on each split (it's roughly 80 miles straight between the points) until the highway joins up again near Waco. Dallas and Ft. Worth have a population of 1.27 million and 815,000 people, respectively, and there are 14 cities within the Metroplex with a population greater than 100,000 (D and FW included). Despite the name, it does not (as far as we know) have the ability to convert into a giant robot.

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Downtown Fort Worth

The Federal Government designates the Metroplex as spanning 13 counties. The main four counties and cities are:

Dallas County (Dallas): Obviously the most well known county, and is pretty much completely urban save for parts of the southeastern portion, though it probably won't stay like that for too long.

Tarrant County (Fort Worth): Lies just west of Dallas, and known for a slightly more 'cowboy-ish' atmosphere... kind of. Stay in Fort Worth's older districts for that, because when you go further out it just looks like any other sprawled-out region.

Denton County (Denton): Used to be where Metroplex residents went for a little "country atmosphere". That is still possible in the northern half, but the southern half is pretty much all urbanized at this point. Denton itself is significantly more liberal than the rest of the Metroplex and is sometimes referred to as 'Little Austin.'

Advertisement: Collin County (McKinney/Plano): Pretty much the same as Denton County. McKinney is the only county seat in the heart of the Metroplex to not have public transit. The DART extends partway through Plano, the most populous city in the county.

The other counties, with their respective county seats, are:

Wise County (Decatur): There is not much to note about Wise County; it's mainly made up of farms and rural dwellers. Decatur, while pretty much a small town in its own right, is the most outlying northwestern suburb of Fort Worth, and even then, it's close to 30 miles away from city limits.

Parker County (Weatherford): A western county, it's a mix of suburban and rural. It's best known for the yearly Peach Festival... and not much else.

Johnson County (Cleburne): Southern county, more mixed suburban and rural. The only outlying county of the Metroplex to have a real public transit agency (CleTran).

Ellis County (Waxahachie): Another southern county. Helpful hint to newcomers and tourists: never, EVER pronounce the county seat as 'wax-a-HACH-ee'. The first "a" is pronounced like the one in the word "watch", and you stress the first syllable the most. Waxahachie was slated to be the site of a massive particle-accelerator called the Superconducting Super Collider, which would have dwarfed the Large Hadron Collider, but US Congress canceled funds for it in the early '90s. One of the problems that plagued it, leading to funds being cancelled, was that huge armies of ants would overrun the site and eat the fiber-rich substrate of the printed-circuit-boards for all the electronic components.

syllable the most. Rockwall County (Rockwall): Known for being the smallest county in Texas, lying just northeast of Dallas County, and being more sprawled out than a tired dog.

Kaufman County (Kaufman): Lying just east of Dallas, Metroplex residents who don't have family or friend connections here know it as the place they pass through to get to Shreveport or as the location of many fine outlet stores.

Hunt County (Greenville): Northeastern county; pretty much an average suburban/rural setting. Once displayed a large billboard that read "The blackest land, the whitest people."

Delta County (Cooper): The least-known of the Metroplex counties, and not really part of the Metroplex except by government designation. Perhaps the most rural of the bunch. Very notable, however, in that it's one of 30 counties in Texas that is completely dry in terms of alcohol sales, the only county in the Metroplex to be so.

Hood County (Granbury): Southwest of Fort Worth, and south of Parker County, Hood County is comprised mostly of farm land, with only the northeast corner of the county, the portion closest to the metroplex, being any kind of suburbia. Like Delta County, it's usually not considered part of the Metroplex except by government designation.

There are also other cities of notable size, such as Arlington (50th most populous city in the country)note And home to the Metroplex's National Football League, Major League Baseball,WNBA, and soon XFL teams, respectively the Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers, Dallas Wings, and Dallas Renegades; and also the first Six Flags theme park and its sister water park Hurricane Harbor., Plano (71st), Garland (87th) Irving (94th), and about a half-dozen more within the top 300.

Despite the fact that the media tends to stereotype anyone in Texas as a cowboy and that the history of DFW had been stained by some very tragic events (JFK's assassination and the Waco standoffnote though technically, Waco is a distinct city about 100 miles to the South and is not part of DFW proper), DFW has a diverse population, a substantial art and music scene, and a strong array of higher education institutions. DFW is one of the fastest growing areas in the USA, thanks to a number of Katrina refugees, an economy that is strong, compared to the rest of the country, and the comparatively very low cost of living compared to cities like San Francisco, Boston, or Chicago.

The Metroplex covers more land than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined, and Dallas is the largest land-locked city in the USA. Fort Worth's official city motto is "Where The West Begins"; consequentially Dallas is sometimes known as "Where The East Ends". note Or, in a fuller expression of (stereo)typical Texan diction, "Where the East peters out."

DFW's tallest building is the Bank of America Plaza, and the most recognizable one that doesn't involve a US president getting shot is probably Reunion Tower, the building in the Dallas skyline that relatively resembles a floofy dandelion. DFW is also home of the first Six Flags—the theme park's name is a reference to the 6 different national flags under which Texas has been governed.note France, Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America, and the United States

The Metroplex is also home to several sports teams and stadia, most of whom are based in Dallas despite their stadium being in another suburb. NASCAR's Texas Motor Speedway, for instance, lies at the intersection of TX-114 and I-35W, which is within the city limits of Fort Worth and just outside of the Roanoke/Westlake/Southlake/Trophy Club limits. As well, the Dallas Cowboys' Cowboys AT&T Stadium is located in Arlington (Texas Stadium, their previous home, was located in Irving), as are Globe Life Field and its predecessor Globe Life Park (the Texas Rangers' home fieldsnote The older stadium is now home to DFW's XFL team, the Dallas Renegades, and North Texas SC, playing soccer in the third-level USL League One as the reserve side for FC Dallas.), and College Park Center, home to the WNBA's Dallas Wings. Going even further than that, FC Dallas play their home games in Toyota Park, up in Frisco. However, the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars play their home games in the American Airlines Center, located right outside of downtown Dallas, well within city limits, and even located literally less than a thousand feet from a major public transportation station close to city center.

The climate in DFW is highly variable. In the summertime, high temperatures reach about 105. Summer 2011 has seen several days above that median, as hot as 111 degrees, which strained power grids and complicated an already severe drought. Depending on each year's weather patterns, there can either be lots of scattered strong thunderstorms in the summer (like in 2006), or it can be bone dry (like in 2000, when DFW Airport went 84 straight days without a drop of rain). In the spring and early autumn, temperatures tend to be mild to warm with severe thunderstorms very common, especially in spring. These storms cause the region to be at a very high risk of flooding, hail, hurricane-force wind, and tornadoes which sometimes cause severe structural damage. In 2009, high winds caused the roof of the Cowboys' stadium to collapse, and in 2000 a tornado so badly damaged downtown Fort Worth that several skyline buildings were later demolished. All this crazy weather lead to a common saying (and joke): 'If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes.', in reference to how it can be 60 degrees and raining and then suddenly climb into the 80s with not a cloud in view in minutes.

Even though Texas is known for hot temperatures, arctic cold fronts can occasionally plunge the entire state temperatures into the twenties and teens, particularly in North Texas and the Panhandle, and can even bring snow to the area.note Santa Anna's army was almost crippled by one such cold front as he marched towards the Alamo. Not that that it really helped the defenders, in the end... The average snow per winter is only 3.2 inches; the winter of 2009/2010, however, was an exception,: DFW had an astonishing 15+ inches of snow, 12.5 inches of which fell over a 24-hour period in February (shattering a record in the process). The first White Christmas in many decades also occurred. Be aware though: there were more recent snowfalls that aren't counted because of a lack of accumulation at the official reporting station for the region, DFW International Airport. There were also single-digit overnight temperatures and a fair amount of snow in early February 2011, which shut down schools, businesses, and city offices for the better part of a week. Unfortunately enough, this just happened to be the week leading up to Super Bowl XLV, which Dallas was hosting.

DFW is also one of the major transportation hubs of the U.S.; American Airlines is based out of DFW Airport (the third busiest airport in the world in terms of aircraft, eighth busiest in passenger volume), and many commercial shipping firms gravitate towards Alliance Airport north of Fort Worth. Love Field in Dallas, where Southwest Airlines is based, is also a major hub. DFW also hosts one of the longest regularly-scheduled commercial routes between it and Sydney, Australia (approximately 8,500 miles one way).

Due to the influence of car culture and much urban sprawl, public transit tends to be very limited in the region. The trend has turned in favor of transit in recent years, however, due to greater environmental awareness, increases in gas prices, and major congestion on the area highways and even arterial streets. There's even a grass-roots movement to take down a small stretch of highway through the middle of downtown and develop it commercially.

There are currently four transit agencies in the Metroplex: The T (Fort Worth), DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit), the DCTA (Denton County Transportation Authority), and CleTran.

DART is the largest, and serves Dallas, as well as some of Dallas's suburbs, with bus, light rail, and commuter rail service. Many suburbs have elected not to participate, however, including all but one of the southern suburbs of Dallas (Glenn Heights being the exception). On the other hand, most of the northern suburbs (notably Richardson, Garland, and Plano), participate in DART, though there are exceptions there too. In addition to the regular bus service, DART is greatly expanding as far as metro (light rail) service goes, and as of June 2014 has four lines: the Red Line from southwest Dallas through Downtown and up through Richardson and Plano; the Blue Line from south Dallas through Downtown and up into Rowlett; the Green Line, which extends from southeast Dallas northwest through Downtown and up into the northwestern suburbs of Farmers Branch and Carrollton; and most recently the Orange Line, which reaches from DFW Airport through Irving, meeting up with the Green Line, following it through Downtown, and then following the Red Line up into Plano the rest of the way. Future plans also call for a commuter rail line from west Plano to DFW Airport along the Cotton Belt railway, which will connect to the future Fort Worth 'T' commuter rail line at the airport.

Dallas and Fort Worth, as well as some cities in between, are served by the Trinity Railway Express commuter rail line.

Fort Worth's transit agency, formally known as the Fort Worth Transportation Authority but popularly called "The T", is notable because its coverage is much more stunted than DART's, due to a much higher resistance to transit among Fort Worth's suburbs (the only suburb to participate in The T is Richland Hills). Also, The T has no light rail service like DART, though they do have the western half of the TRE line. To open in a few years is a commuter rail line from southwest Fort Worth through Downtown and into the cluster of suburbs to the northeast of Fort Worth to DFW Airport. Interestingly, the line will have a fairly long "express" run in its northeastern portion, due to the only suburb wanting a station along the line being Grapevine, unless others elect to participate. This line will be part of the Cotton Belt line mentioned above.

Next, we turn to the DCTA. They offer bus service to Denton and Lewisville, along with a commuter bus into downtown Dallas. The A-Train - a commuter rail line - opened, running from from Denton down through to Carrollton, where it connects to Dallas's Green Line light rail at Trinity Mills Station.

CleTran provides on-demand bus service to parts of Johnson County and also offers commuter service to Fort Worth's downtown transit hub.

That said, highway traffic is notoriously bad, with everything from complete standstills to hyperaggressive drivers. This is ironic, considering that the Metroplex has the second largest number of freeway-miles per capita in the nation, behind only the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. While most are known by numbers, such as the north-south I-35W (Fort Worth side) and I-35E (Dallas side), some major highways in DFW are often referred to by 3-letter acronyms instead of numbers: LBJ is I-635, GBT is the George Bush Turnpike, DNT is the Dallas North Tollway, and so on. For the truly curious, there's a handy guide to driving in Dallas here.

As far as education goes, there are a number of colleges in the area. Fort Worth's most notable university is Texas Christian University, which has produced a couple of college football stars in Sammy Baugh and LaDainian Tomlinson. The University of Texas has campuses at both Dallas (a northeast suburb named Richardson, more specifically) and Arlington. Denton also has two major universities: The University of North Texas and Texas Women's University. UNT is one of the state's top five in enrollment and their football team once fielded Mean Joe Greene (that guy whom the kid gave the Coke in that commercial) and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (back when he was called Steve Williams). UNT is also well known for its music program, having been the oldest school to offer a degree in jazz studies, and for having one of the world's most famous and prestigious drumlines. Dallas has Southern Methodist University, known for its fine arts programs, but was also a football powerhouse, producing pro stars such as Eric Dickerson and Craig James. SMU lost its glory in the 80s, however, after receiving the NCAA "Death Penalty" (cancellation of its football program for two years) for illegal recruiting practices.

Shows set in Dallas:

Shows filmed/produced in Dallas:

Movies filmed in Dallas/Fort Worth:

Notable people from Dallas/Ft. Worth:

Also, id Software was founded in Dallas and is currently headquartered in the Dallas suburb of Richardson. Gearbox Software likewise is located in Frisco (right across the street from FC Dallas, as a matter of fact). Comic book wise, it's the base of operations for Viper Comics was was responsible for the The Middleman and Dead @ 17.