Fort Worth, it’s time to do a little thinking.

I am speaking of the issues of the Southwest Parkway, the proposed streetcar light rail system, and the planned Southwest-to-Northeast rail line. Now, if you’ve read Fort Worthology for any length of time, you probably already know that I come down on the side of rail, but I’d like to make a few comparisons between these two groups of projects that might explain why.

• Southwest Parkway – Requires huge land acquisitions, demolition of private buildings, massive construction and lengthy neighborhood disruptions.
• Streetcar light rail and Southwest-to-Northeast rail – Requires no notable land acquisitions, no demolition of private buildings, little (Southwest-to-Northeast) to very moderate (streetcar light rail) construction, and very moderate (streetcar light rail) to no (Southwest-to-Northeast) neighborhood disruption.

• Southwest Parkway – Encourages increased amounts of car traffic, leading to more pollution, air quality problems, and air quality-related health problems.
• Streetcar light rail and Southwest-to-Northeast rail – Streetcars run virtually pollution-free through neighborhoods, and Southwest-to-Northeast’s diesel-electric engines produce low, very localized emissions far below that of a major new highway.

• Southwest Parkway – By creating the brief illusion of easier driving (more on that in a bit), the Southwest Parkway will dump more cars onto already clogged southwest Fort Worth surface streets.
• Streetcar light rail and Southwest-to-Northeast rail – By allowing more people to move about the city without their cars, rail will help lighten traffic loads.

• Southwest Parkway – By creating the brief illusion of easier driving (more on that in a bit), the Southwest Parkway will encourage car-based suburban sprawl, a great deal of which already afflicts southwest Fort Worth. This sprawl development will force all trips to be car trips, increasing pollution and adding even more traffic to already clogged streets.
• Streetcar light rail and Southwest-to-Northeast rail – Encourages denser, walkable, mixed-use smart development, facilitating mobility without being tied to the car – cutting pollution, giving people the ability to get more daily exercise, and lightening traffic loads.

• Southwest Parkway – Due to the well-known condition known as “induced traffic,” the Southwest Parkway is doomed to be clogged. At first, it may make driving easier, which will lead more people to drive. As word gets out about the new easy drive, more people choose to drive it as well. On and on it will go. It won’t be long before so many people choose to drive, since it’s “easier,” that the new road becomes clogged with traffic (and in turn further clogs surrounding surface streets). Then, the drumbeat begins for more new roads or widening existing roads. If either of those two things are done, the cycle of induced traffic repeats itself.
• Streetcar light rail and Southwest-to-Northeast rail – Does not suffer from “induced traffic.” As ridership increases, more (and/or more frequent) trains can be added to keep up with demand, without forcing widening of the line. This also means fewer cars being driven through these areas, reducing congestion on surface streets.

• Southwest Parkway – Serves mainly southwest Fort Worth to downtown.
• Streetcar light rail and Southwest-to-Northeast rail – Serves (on Southwest-to-Northeast) southwest Fort Worth, downtown, northeast Fort Worth, D/FW Airport, Grapevine; serves (streetcar light rail) the near west side and Cultural District, Fort Worth South, TCU, Berry Street, the hospitals, downtown, Uptown, the Mercado Village, the Stockyards, the Six Points Village, east Rosedale, Texas Wesleyan, and areas surrounding those areas.

Now, you might be asking why I’m stacking the deck, comparing two rail systems to the one Southwest Parkway. Unfair, you say? Well, chew on this:

• Southwest Parkway – Current price estimate is $970 million.
• Streetcar light rail and Southwest-to-Northeast rail – Streetcar estimates are $150-$225 million, Southwest-to-Northeast estimate is $390 million.

I’m comparing two rail systems to the Southwest Parkway to show that we can have *both* rail systems for $540 to $615 million. For $355 to $430 million LESS than ONE disruptive tollroad, we can have two transit options that would tie together (and with the TRE) to create a fully-integrated transit system that would serve far, far more people and areas of the city than this one tollroad. A transit system that would promote sustainable smart growth, reduce automotive dependency, reduce air pollution, and be an enhancement to and focal point of neighborhoods rather than a disruption and divider.

$970 million for a tollroad. $540-$615 million for both proposed/planned rail transit systems.

Just something to think about, Fort Worth.