Air carrier captain describes the the intersection of taxiways D and C at dal as confusing at night ...

Narrative:

While taxiing from the gate to [runway] 31L for departure; we were instructed to taxi via D to C to 31L. It was dark; but excellent visibility. While taxiing southwest on D; there were green lights on the yellow line that I was following. Approaching C; I could see where the green lights made the left turn toward 31L; but the green lights also continued straight ahead across 31L and continued past the runway. I was momentarily confused (even though I had flown into and out of this airport for more than five years as a first officer); because all I could really see were the green taxi lights. I couldn't see any runway lighting as I was approaching C and 31L. Part of the reason I couldn't see any runway lights is because the taxi area where D crosses 31L on the east side is very wide due to it being a 'semi' high speed exit from 31L. From my perspective looking southwest; all I could see was a wide dark area with the green taxi lights extending through it. I did notice there were runway identification signs at either end of the large dark area; but they didn't look very bright (maybe some of the lights were burnt out) or maybe the fact they were so far apart they just weren't noticeable. I made the turn southeast onto C and realized it would have been nice to have the flashing amber lights built into the concrete (like we have on many other airports) and some wig wag lights too. This would better alert our crew that they are approaching an active and heavily used runway. I called ground control and tried to explain how the lighting was a little confusing to me; but didn't have much luck explaining it to him. I know that runway incursions are a high priority with the NTSB; FAA; and our company so wanted to bring this to your attention. Is there any way we could improve the runway lighting in this area?

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain describes the the intersection of Taxiways D and C at DAL as confusing at night and suggests that flashing amber lights be built into the concrete to denote the hold line for Runway 31L.

Narrative: While taxiing from the gate to [Runway] 31L for departure; we were instructed to taxi via D to C to 31L. It was dark; but excellent visibility. While taxiing southwest on D; there were green lights on the yellow line that I was following. Approaching C; I could see where the green lights made the left turn toward 31L; but the green lights also continued straight ahead across 31L and continued past the runway. I was momentarily confused (even though I had flown into and out of this airport for more than five years as a First Officer); because all I could really see were the green taxi lights. I couldn't see any runway lighting as I was approaching C and 31L. Part of the reason I couldn't see any runway lights is because the taxi area where D crosses 31L on the east side is very wide due to it being a 'semi' high speed exit from 31L. From my perspective looking southwest; all I could see was a wide dark area with the green taxi lights extending through it. I did notice there were runway ID signs at either end of the large dark area; but they didn't look very bright (maybe some of the lights were burnt out) or maybe the fact they were so far apart they just weren't noticeable. I made the turn southeast onto C and realized it would have been nice to have the flashing amber lights built into the concrete (like we have on many other airports) and some wig wag lights too. This would better alert our crew that they are approaching an active and heavily used runway. I called Ground Control and tried to explain how the lighting was a little confusing to me; but didn't have much luck explaining it to him. I know that runway incursions are a high priority with the NTSB; FAA; and our company so wanted to bring this to your attention. Is there any way we could improve the runway lighting in this area?

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	985464
Time
Date	201112
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	DAL.Airport
State Reference	TX
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Medium Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 169
Events
Anomaly	No Specific Anomaly Occurred All Types

Air carrier captain describes the the intersection of taxiways D and C at dal as confusing at night and suggests that flashing amber lights be built into the concrete to denote the hold line for runway 31L.