Mayor of Fort Worth: Autocentric Design “A Mistake”

FortWorthology
Kevin Buchanan // February 25, 2010

The mayor stated in no uncertain terms that Fort Worth is facing severe transportation challenges, that they stem from too many years of car-first planning, and that Fort Worth can no longer be designed and built in a car-centric fashion.

Commuter Rail, street cars, and other alternative modes of transportation also remain a priority for me and this City Council. Unfortunately, Fort Worth and other major metropolitan areas are finding out the hard way what a mistake it was to design and build cities around automobiles years ago. Friends, we cannot continue to focus solely on building more roads for more vehicles. That’s counter productive at best.

Business as usual is dead!

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Area transportation needs face financial hurdle

Fort Worth Business Press
Leslie Wimmer // December 21, 2009

Funding will be the major hurdle for North Texas to begin a regionwide transportation overhaul.
Officials from area businesses, governments and community organizations gathered at the Fort Worth Sheraton on Dec. 11 to listen to speakers discuss economic development, transportation plans and funding challenges during the “Tracks to the Future: Rail and Economic Development in North Texas” event.

About 300 people attended the day-long event which was hosted by a number of area organizations. Speakers included State Sen. Wendy Davis; members of Fort Worth’s City Council; Mayor Mike Moncrief; representatives from the Fort Worth Transportation Authority; Dallas Area Rapid Transit; the Denton County Transportation Authority; the Texas Department of Transportation; the cities of San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Oklahoma City and Portland; and other area business and government leaders.

Vision North Texas Project Manager Karen Walz told the event’s crowd that the Dallas-Fort Worth region is expected to hit a population of 12 million by 2050.

“Think about what that means if we just keep doing what we’ve been doing and taking care of growth the way we have been,” she said.

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North Richland Hills approves rail-oriented development
By CHRIS VAUGHN
cvaughn@star-telegram.com

NORTH RICHLAND HILLS — The city’s plans to join an emerging commuter rail network in Tarrant County may have fizzled in the Legislature, but the City Council is pushing ahead with planning for rail stations and surrounding development in two neighborhoods. ....

Fort Worth's cost cuts could doom rail line
By GORDON DICKSON
gdickson@star-telegram.com

Plans to build a commuter rail line from southwest Fort Worth to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport would likely be mothballed if Fort Worth stops contributing $7.5 million a year to the project and instead uses the money on street repairs, officials said.

DART, Fort Worth T seek private partner to help build Cotton Belt corridor

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority (The T)might establish a public-private partnership (PPP) to build a regional rail line in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

The agencies recently issued a Request for Information, seeking firms that would be interested in helping to design, construct, operate, maintain and finance a passenge-rail service along the Cotton Belt Rail Line beginning as early as 2013.

The majority of the service would operate on a 54-mile, DART-owned rail corridor that extends from Wylie, Texas, north and east of Dallas, and west to Fort Worth. The line would serve Plano, Richardson, Dallas, Addison, Carrollton and Fort Worth, as well as DFW International Airport.

The T currently is developing plans to establish rail service on another corridor in southwest Fort Worth, which could become part of the PPP and connect to the Cotton Belt line in the northern part of the city. The Cotton Belt corridor also would connect with DART's Red and Green lines, the Denton County Transportation Authority's proposed passenger-rail service between Denton and Carrollton, and the Trinity Railway Express line at the Intermodal Transportation Center and T&P stations in Fort Worth.

Transit-oriented development expected on rail route

BY LESLIE WIMMER

April 06, 2009

Mixed-use, residential and commercial developments are in the works for transportation-oriented projects at some stops along the Fort Worth T’s Southwest to Northeast rail line.

Developments along the route’s stops are in the planning stages for now, but each project will likely see growth which represents the community near each stop, said Dick Ruddell, president of the Fort Worth Transportation Authority.

“This is happening everywhere, all across the country,” said Shelley Poticha, president and CEO of Reconnecting America, a center for transit-oriented development in California.

Most Colleyville City Council members come out against train station

BY GORDON DICKSON

gdickson@star-telegram.com

COLLEYVILLE — Four of seven City Council members say they oppose the construction of a train station in their city, breaking months of silence.

Tom Hart, Carol Wollin, Jon Ayers and Mike Taylor have publicly stated that they don’t support a stop in their city. The station’s cost is $1 million to $5 million.