ACBT 2012 Conference Hotel Directions

The 2012 ACBT Conference is being held at the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton in north Dallas just north of LBJ Freeway, IH-635, west of the Dallas North Tollway and the Galleria area. The hotel is at the east end of Valley View Lane east of Brookhaven College at 4099 Valley View Lane, Dallas TX 75244. It is in the middle of a large north-south parking lot.

Although the hotel is labeled as the DoubleTree Hotel near the Galleria, it is in fact located considerably more than convenient walking distance from the Galleria Shopping Center which is just east of the Dallas North Tollway, just north of IH-635 LBJ Freeway. The distance by various routes is about 1.9 miles driving and 1.5 miles walking.

DRIVING - Westbound on LBJ IH-635, exit Valley View/Midway just west of Tollway, cross Midway, and almost immediately turn right into hotel parking lot, hotel is set well back.
Eastbound on LBJ IH-635, exit Marsh, turn North on Marsh then east on Valley View, keeping right when Alpha Y's off to left, hotel is on left before road separates.

From the South - The Dallas North Tollway runs from near downtown Dallas with good connections from downtown via Harry Hines and directly from Northbound IH-35 (but not from southbound IH-35). As suggested by the name, it costs money via TollTag or remote billing. Paying at the south end covers to LBJ, exit LBJ anyway and turn left (west) onto the access road to reach the hotel as above.

On city streets, Lemmon Avenue turns into Marsh north of Love Field, cross LBJ then right on Valley View. Also from Lemmon branch right on Midway and left after crossing LBJ.

From Love Field - Love Field is almost directly south. Google may suggest the Tollway as the fastest but it is longer and Lemmon to Marsh Lane is only 9.2 miles while the slightly shorter Lemmon to Midway involves making a right turn that can be missed.
At the end of the long entry drive of the airport, keep left on Mockingbird, then keep left to Y onto Lemmon. Drive alongside Love Field past the Flight Museum and keep right to turn onto northbound Midway or keep going straight past the end of the airport, over Bachman Lake and an overpass over Northwest Highway - Loop 12 connects straight into northbound Marsh.
At the north end of Marsh turn right after crossing LBJ. At the north end Midway, turn left on access road after crossing LBJ.

FLYING IN - Love Field is almost directly south about 10 miles. It is served by dozens of flights each day from Southwest Airlines and a few flights each day from American and Delta. Commercial shuttles will charge about $20 a person, while taxies will charge $15-25 + $2 per extra person per car load. Notice that this means two or more people in a taxi is cheaper than the shuttle. Round trip fares of slightly less than double are available on the shuttle. Rates vary due to different routes.

DFW Airport's North Entrance is almost directly west on LBJ IH-635, 17+ miles to the center of the airport. Commercial shuttles will charge about $21 a person, while taxies will charge $25-37 + $2 per extra person per car load. Notice that this means two or more people in a taxi is cheaper than the shuttle. Round trip fares of slightly less than double are available on the shuttle. Taxi rates vary in part because of length of airport to various terminals and need to drive to north end then turn east.
Fare estimates obtained in June 2012 from two largest shuttle and cab companies.

BUS - In and Out of State - Dallas is served by Greyhound from all directions from a terminal in downtown Dallas (as well as a few other places in the area.) The downtown terminal is 12-16 miles from the hotel depending on route. The hotel can be reached by DART, most directly by rail from a station a few blocks west, then a bus from one of the northern stations as discussed below. A cab will be about half again as much as from Love Field.
Several other bus companies use small stops and which primarily serve Mexico. New service begun in June 2012 is MegaBus which picks up and drops off at the curb CHANGE - The site was moved to Grand Prairie just before the NFB convention to the dismay of many with the added cost of cab fare. [Planned downtown stop not ready in Dallas near the East Transfer Center.] The company has a sliding scale of rates from as low as $1 for a few seats several weeks ahead and reservation numbers rather than tickets are given out after online registration.

Local BUS - The hotel can be reached by DART Bus routes 486, 488, and 532.
The 486 and 488 serve a stop about 1 block west through the parking lot, Alpha @ Alpha Link - N - FS, eastbound on the nearest side, westbound across the street. The 486 runs seven days, the 488 Monday thru Saturday. Each of these routes runs all the way across north Dallas connecting with all three DART Rail lines.
The 486 provides half hour service all day weekdays and one hour on Saturday and Sunday, connecting to Royal Lane Station on the west side Green Line, Forest Lane Station in the center Red Line and Downtown Garland Station at the east Blue Line. East end Sunday service is a bit odd with half hour fill-in service only between Garland and Valley View Mall. Travel time is under 25 minutes from the nearest train station.

The 488 provides half hour rush hour and hourly otherwise on weekdays and hourly on Saturday. It connects Farmers Branch Station on Green Line with Blue Line LBJ/Skillman Station and Red Line Forest Lane Station in the middle. Travel time is much longer from the east, about 55 minutes, and shorter west, 20 minutes due to a loop up to Addison Transfer Center.

The 532 serves the Blue Lake Cir @ McEwen - W - MB‎ at the north end of the hotel parking lot across the street. The 532 only runs Monday thru Friday with half hour rush hour service and 1 hour otherwise. The stop is on a loop at the very end of the route which starts at Royal Lane Station on the Green Line.