Members of the Denton County Transportation Authority’s board of directors cooled their heels in a hallway inside Denton City Hall for nearly an hour Tuesday afternoon as the City Council considered a “right-of-entry” agreement between the two entities in closed session.

DRC/Barron Ludlum

Land off Morse Street has been cleared for the 21-mile commuter rail line that will connect Denton, Highland Village and Lewisville to Dallas Area Rapid Transit lines.

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DCTA board Chairman Charles Emery said the majority of the group went to show their support for the agreement, which the transit authority approved in a special session Friday.

Denton leaders voted unanimously to accept the deal, having visited and revisited the agreement since January.

Now, work may begin on the Denton end of the 21-mile commuter rail line that will connect Denton, Highland Village and Lewisville to Dallas Area Rapid Transit lines in Carrollton and beyond.

At issue, Mayor Mark Burroughs said, was protecting the city’s water mains, which run along a part of the planned rail line.

Construction began on the southern end of the line in February. Emery said DCTA had planned for construction to start at both ends, but Denton wasn’t ready.

“We had a great concern for Denton, as we were not making equal progress on both ends,” Emery said.

The board’s presence was to let the city know that DCTA leaders were dedicated to getting the job done on time and on budget, Emery said. Rail service is set to begin next year.

Emery would not say whether Denton’s delay had cost DCTA money. But he said that the agency had received a notice from the contractor about the delay.

Two representatives from the contractor, North Texas Rail Group, were also present at the special-called meeting Tuesday afternoon.

The agreement between Denton and DCTA had morphed several times since city leaders began working on it, Burroughs said, adding that he wanted to assure those present that “we are doing everything we can to move this along.”

The rail line follows the path of the former Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad line. In 1993, Denton acquired eight miles of the line to use as the Denton Branch Rail Trail, which opened in 2001.

In late 2006, city leaders tentatively agreed to let DCTA build its rail line on the trail, which roughly parallels Interstate 35E from Denton to Corinth. In return, the transit authority agreed to rebuild the pedestrian/bicycle trail beside the rail line, with some type of barrier between the two.

After council member Dalton Gregory’s query about the limits of the agreement, City Manager George Campbell acknowledged it only covered Phase 1 of the rail line’s construction.

“We hope for a comprehensive agreement,” Campbell said.

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .