Benbrook: Say No to 377 Widening
Neil, one of our readers, brings to our attention a topic that’s slightly outside of the usual range of our normal coverage, but one that’s still near to our mission. We’re reaching out to one of our neighboring towns. On Tuesday, July 14th, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM, TxDOT will be having a public meeting at the First Baptist Church (1015 McKinley Street) in Benbrook to discuss plans to widen Highway 377 from I-20 to Winscott Road in that city.
Road widenings are almost always done in the name of “reducing congestion,” but in fact they have the opposite effect: widening roads increases traffic. The old saying goes “widening roads to control traffic is like loosening your belt to control your weight,” and it’s pretty accurate.
Traffic will swell to fill capacity. It’s a phenomenon called “induced demand.” Build more lanes, and you alert drivers that there is now more capacity on the road. They will use that capacity. Because the road now “flows better,” people will take advantage of that capacity. This, in turn, creates more congestion, bringing us back to the starting point. How many years after 377 is widened from four to six lanes will it be that TxDOT comes up with a plan to widen it from six to eight? There will never be enough lanes for the highway crowd. Benbrook must make a choice – would it rather have four lanes of congestion, or six lanes of congestion? There will be congestion, sooner or later, in either design – the six lane configuration will just have that many more cars in gridlock. In addition, the wider road will increase congestion on surrounding local streets feeding into it.
So widening roads does nothing to solve traffic problems – it, in fact, makes them worse. As part of the increase in traffic, it will also create more pollution, and in a time when the FW/D region is constantly battling with air quality concerns (due in large part to our car usage), does encouraging even more traffic really make sense?
Beyond making traffic and pollution worse, road widenings also tend to lower the quality of life for other residents. With a wider road, drivers will feel comfortable driving at higher speeds (when the road’s not choked with more cars). It makes the roads less safe for all users. Drivers already speed on 377 – does Benbrook really want to make it worse?
The writing is on the wall all across the country that the old post-WWII model of growth embraced by cities like Benbrook – ever-wider roads, increasingly-segregated uses, ever-increasing car dependency – is at a dead end. It eventually chokes on traffic congestion and car dependency. Rather than continue on the same path that will keep Benbrook tied to huge oil consumption, speeding traffic, and complete reliance on the car, the city ought to be thinking about how to reorganize itself into a more livable form. It’s not a process that can happen overnight, but it has to begin somewhere – and stopping the widening of 377 could be that first step. TxDOT road widenings tend to destroy far more than they improve – just look at the horribleness that is Rosedale in the Near Southside here in Fort Worth. We hope that Benbrook citizens and concerned parties will show up at the public meeting and voice their opposition to the plan – and will continue to let TxDOT know that they can’t just build traffic sewers wherever they please without regard for the negative effects on local communities.
For more on induced demand, here are some links to get you started:
Why building new roads doesn’t decrease congestion – excerpt from “Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream”
References to published research on the phenomenon
Maryland’s Lesson: Widen the Roads, Drivers Will Come – Washington Post
Induced Traffic Confirmed
Does Widening Roads Cause Congestion?
Thanks for posting! I think Benbrook does have it in them to do something progressive with 377. Picture a tree lied avenue with a large median, plenty of bike and walk paths, outdoor dining, etc..
Make us a destination and a better place to live rather than just some annoying lights and a Wall Mart to stop off at on your way back from Fort Worth to Granbury…
Kevin,
As always, you’re all over the topics. Thanks.
I hope your posting this topic will result in a large turn-out for this Public meeting… those for, against, with questions, and with suggestions.
I do agree increasing motor vehicle lanes is a never ending, never corrective solution. Heck, I’m a bicyclist.
Benbrook Blvd (Hwy 377 from I-20 to Winscott Rd) does require large scale changes. The above ground power lines along its Right-Of-Way (ROW) need moved and buried. The “moving parking lot” feel of the current road must be changed- currently there’s no real control of entry or egress, just one wide open center median and wide open entries to all businesses along the ROW. These things hamper the effective use of the current roadway.
Proposed changes will restrict left turns, greatly limit egress to road-side businesses, and bury over-head eye-sore power lines. Pedestrian islands, sidewalks, and cross walks are planned with “theme” type landscaping to improve the appearance of this roadway. Six lanes and other things may/may not be needed (remember Walmart and other large retailers are coming to a new “Benbrook Field.” I don’t wish to see a westside version of Bryant-Irvin Rd. but I do hope to see a much needed improvement over the current Benbrook Blvd.
I’ve not seen the most recent of plans since previews of last year. Sadly, I will not be at this Public meeting as I’ll be in the N.E. on vacation but, I will be reviewing these plans before the meeting. I’ll also be very interested in citizen comments and suggestions from those attending this meeting. My greatest initial concern, we must maintain/improve mobility from one side of Benbrook Blvd to the other- for motor vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists, and disabled.
I’d appreciate inputs/suggestions/thoughts from citizens after their attendance at this public meeting.
Jim Wilson
Place 5, Benbrook City Council
place5@cityofbenbrook.com
Jim, I do plan to attend the meeting and I will let you know my inputs/suggestions/thoughts after.
Thanks!
Kevin,
Great incite on the issue of induced demand! This type of public education makes people more aware of these types of problems and will help bring about the change needed in FW/D transportation planning.
Keep it up,
Stephen
Here’s a similar problem they’re facing in Keller on North Tarrant Parkway:
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/1445519.html
I’m not sure why these engineers who do these studies are so in favor of the “bigger-is-better” approach. Is there less of an effort to change our transportation habits in the suburbs because we still have the land for expansion (versus in the central part of the city where space is already at a premium)?
As a resident off of HIGHWAY 377 just south of Benbrook, I am happy to see Kevin post on this subject, even though I completely disagree with his stance. If 377 were merely a road (such as are in Near Southside) I would agree that widening is not the solution. However, 377 is a crazy highway with crazy drivers, and I would like nothing more than to never have settled where we are. That being said, I believe that a boulevard widening w/ limited egress/ingress of businesses, a median w/ trees, plants, etc…, burying those disgusting telephone lines will have a “calming” effect on the driving of 377. As of now the stretch through Benbrook is not a destination but a thoroughfare—I sincerely hope Benbrook is intent on changing that. I guess I better show up at the meeting on July 14th.
What about making it 377 business and creating a bi-pass for all those crazy drivers trying to get from Granbury to Fort worth…
You’ve been to Bryant Irvin right? It is far from calm and really not appealing at all.
Try not to be so negative about Benbrook. Benbrook has a lot going for it good community, good schools, nice YMCA and park system, access to Trinity trails, Lake. etc.. Improving 377 would be another small step.. but like Kevin says, this stuff takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight.
I am not negative about Benbrook, I am negative about 377–I am actually looking forward to a change, finally!!! Many new developments are still going in along 377 from Benbrook to Granbury and the status quo of 377 is not working.
Annie,
Be careful what you wish for when it comes to widenings – if you think drivers are crazy on 377 now, making the road wider will make people more comfortable with speeding. I wager that making 377 six lanes would make people speed even worse than they do now. And when the congestion does come (and it will), you’ll have a lot more cars clogging the road than you do now, because of those extra lanes.
Instead, I’d like to see 377 transformed into something akin to Lancaster Avenue in Downtown Fort Worth. Highways entering towns should become boulevards. Keep 377 four lanes, add a brick & landscaped median with turn lanes at intersections & major destinations, add wide sidewalks with trees along the street edge, maybe use some of the space that would have been the two extra lanes to add protected bike lanes (just brainstorming here), add clearly defined entry & egress for businesses but design the street such that it would become a classic town boulevard in the future with new development taking a more traditional “main street” orientation rather than the parking lot & box model that exists now. In short, make the street a place that can become a real part of the city of Benbrook, rather than a traffic sewer that just shoots cars past as quickly as possible. It might take years and years afterwards, but the built environment along this new 377 could slowly start to transform into something better than the strip malls & gas stations model that’s there now. You have to plan for years and generations to come – it might seem incongruous at first, but making 377 a real boulevard rather than just a six-lane speeding highway could have a profoundly positive impact on Benbrook for many, many years to come. TxDOT’s design, I’m guessing, doesn’t care about improving the surrounding built environment – they’re just concerned with pushing cars through as fast as possible. Again, for an example of the sort of ham-fisted remakes that TxDOT does to “highways” in cities, just look at Rosedale here in Fort Worth’s Near Southside. TxDOT’s remade six-lane Rosedale is a disaster, a wasteland of pavement, tiny sidewalks, and speeding cars that serves as little more than a barrier to good growth. We’re actually spending money to *undo* what TxDOT did and take the street back down to four lanes with better pedestrian & bike facilities. I’d just hate to see Benbrook get the same sort of junk that TxDOT did to Rosedale. Benbrook could use a real sense of place – as long as the roads passing through it continue to be treated as simplistic highways, that will be difficult to achieve. 377 might *technically* be a highway, but where it passes through Benbrook the city should take hold of its own interests and control its own destiny, and not let the state traffic engineers who don’t care about the city’s sense of place decide for it. Make it a real “Benbrook Boulevard.” Letting TxDOT make it a six-lane highway won’t do that – there’s nothing “Boulevard” about it.
But that’s just my idea, of course. Your mileage may vary.
Thanks again Kevin! Taking all of this with me to the meeting on the 14th.
Annie, sorry, I just thought that this sounded a little negative.
“I would like nothing more than to never have settled where we are.”
No worries.. Neil
Yes, Kevin, I LOVE that idea—-I think that Benbrook would greatly benefit from a narrower boulevard look—my only issue is that with all the development toward Granbury, I would wonder if it is too late for that nice smaller town feel given that 377 acts a highway south of Winscott Road–but Benbrook does need a change between I-20 and Winscott–we’ll go to the meeting and see what’s up. Just please bury the telephone lines!!!
And Neil, when I said I wished we hadn’t settled where we did, I meant because of the difficulty of traversing 377 daily–it’s a nasty drive, sorry!!!
Annie,
It’s never too late. Making 377 a real “Benbrook Boulevard” would also affect development further out, as it would add just the tiniest bit of friction to driving through Benbrook, encouraging drivers to use multiple routes, adjust driving schedules, and perhaps reconsider moving so far out from town in the first place. If the state turns 377 into a bigger highway, it’ll just make it easier for *even more* of that development farther out to occur, making traffic much worse in the future.
Again, just my thoughts.