Arlington, Texas map
32.74° N · 97.11° W · Tarrant County · elev. 604 ft · Central Time
Arlington is the seventh-largest city in Texas and the largest with no passenger rail station and no fixed-route city bus network. It fills the middle of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, with I-30 running along its north side and I-20 along its south, and its best-known square mile is the Entertainment District, where two major-league stadiums and a theme park sit within walking distance of each other.
Centered on the city. The stadium cluster is north of I-30 at Collins Street; downtown and the UT Arlington campus are about two miles south of it.
Where Arlington is in Texas
Arlington sits in eastern Tarrant County, 15 miles east of downtown Fort Worth and 20 miles west of downtown Dallas on I-30. That position is the whole story of the place: the town started in 1876 as a stop on the Texas and Pacific Railway laid between the two cities, and it was named after Arlington, Virginia. For a century it was a small college town between two big ones; the 1961 opening of Six Flags Over Texas and the 1972 arrival of the Texas Rangers turned it into the metroplex's entertainment address.
Grand Prairie adjoins Arlington on the east, along the Dallas County line. Mansfield is south, Kennedale and Fort Worth west, and the West Fork of the Trinity River forms the north edge, beyond which lie the Mid-Cities of Euless, Bedford and Hurst. Two small cities, Pantego and Dalworthington Gardens, are completely surrounded by Arlington. DFW International Airport is about 12 miles north via SH-360.
Getting around without a bus system
Arlington has never joined a regional transit authority, and it has no fixed-route municipal bus network. Public transport in the city is an on-demand rideshare service booked by app, which covers the city limits rather than running a timetable along set routes. The closest commuter rail is the Trinity Railway Express, which runs north of the city between Fort Worth and Dallas; its CentrePort/DFW Airport station is roughly eight miles north of the Entertainment District. Everything here is built around the car, which is why the stadium district is ringed by surface parking lots rather than a station.
The other institution that shapes the map is the University of Texas at Arlington, immediately south of downtown between Cooper and Center streets. It opened in 1895 as a private college, spent decades as a branch of Texas A&M, and joined the University of Texas System in 1965; its enrollment is now among the largest in North Texas, and student housing has pushed the campus north toward Division Street. Between the university and the stadiums, downtown Arlington keeps a small grid of civic buildings, the central library and the Levitt Pavilion outdoor stage.
Highways
- I-30 – east to Dallas, west to Fort Worth; the Collins Street and Ballpark Way exits serve the stadiums.
- I-20 – across south Arlington; east toward Dallas, west to Fort Worth and on to Abilene.
- SH-360 – the north–south freeway on the east side; north to DFW Airport and Grapevine, south to Mansfield as a toll road.
- SH-180 / Division Street – the old highway through downtown, east to Grand Prairie and west to east Fort Worth.
- Spur 303 / Pioneer Parkway – east–west through the middle of the city.
- Cooper Street (FM-157) – the main north–south city street, past UT Arlington and The Parks Mall.
- Green Oaks Boulevard – an inner arc across the west and south sides linking I-30 to I-20.
Areas and neighborhoods
| Area | What's there |
|---|---|
| Entertainment District | AT&T Stadium, Globe Life Field, Choctaw Stadium, Six Flags Over Texas, Hurricane Harbor, Texas Live!, the convention center |
| Downtown | University of Texas at Arlington, Levitt Pavilion, Main Street, the central library |
| North Arlington | River Legacy Parks along the West Fork of the Trinity, the Viridian development |
| East Arlington | The SH-360 corridor and the Great Southwest industrial district shared with Grand Prairie |
| West Arlington | Lake Arlington, a city water-supply reservoir on Village Creek, and Bowman Springs Park |
| South Arlington | The Parks Mall, the I-20 retail corridor, Arlington Municipal Airport |
| Pantego & Dalworthington Gardens | Two separate small cities enclosed by Arlington along Bowen Road |
Distances from Arlington
| City | Road miles | Route |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Prairie | 8 | I-30 E |
| Fort Worth | 15 | I-30 W |
| Irving | 15 | SH-360 N |
| Dallas | 20 | I-30 E |
| Denton | 45 | SH-360 N / I-35E |
| Waco | 100 | I-35W S |
| Austin | 200 | I-35W S |