The long-running feud between the Fairmount neighborhood and a negligent property owner finally came to a head yesterday, as the city moved in and demolished the two structures at 1900 5th Avenue in the heart of the historic district.

The two homes have been deteriorating for many years as their owner sat on them, never so much as mowing the grass. The homes had reached the point where they were not only a negative influence on neighborhood property values and image, but were downright dangerous to neighboring properties. It was not uncommon to see yet another part of the homes laying on the ground next to them each day as they were quite literally falling apart.

After many years of pressure on the city, and after clearing a series of legal roadblocks thrown up by the owner, Fairmount finally prevailed. Thanks to even more pressure on the city and letters written to state reps such as Senator Wendy Davis, the city finally brought in the wrecking equipment and leveled both structures.

Thanks to the Fairmount Neighborhood Association, which keeps extensive photographic records of each structure in the district, we can trace the path of 1900 5th from potential showpiece restoration to dangerous derelict.

1900 5th in 1995

1900 5th in 2002

1900 5th in 2005

1900 5th in 2008

1900 5th in 2008

1900 5th on September 8th, 2009

1900 5th on September 8th, 2009

At the Intermodal Transportation Center yesterday evening, the North Central Texas Council of Governments presented alternatives for relieving rail traffic at Tower 55, the congested at-grade railroad crossing located under the I-30/I-35 interchange near Downtown Fort Worth and the Near Southside. We attended and will provide a summary of the proposals.

Tower 55 has been around for over 100 years. Several railways from both Union Pacific and BNSF converge at this spot just outside Downtown Fort Worth, and all the crossings are at-grade, meaning that the rails are like the intersection in a typical surface street setup. Trains crossing in one direction block trains crossing in the other direction. There are also issues with trains turning from the east-west route to the north-south route.

The location of Tower 55

Tower 55, as currently configured, can only allow about 100 trains per day to pass through. At peak times, there are actually now around 120 trains per day trying to get through the crossing, leading to backups and wait times of up to 90 minutes. This impacts freight rail and passenger rail, as Amtrak uses these same lines. It also impacts scheduling of the Trinity Railway Express and the future Southwest-to-Northeast commuter rail line.

Improving the congestion at Tower 55 is also important for local noise, safety, and air quality reasons – reducing the problem of idling freight trains creating noise and pollution while waiting in congestion at Tower 55.

The fixes to the Tower 55 problem were presented in three groups: near-term, mid-term, and long-term.

In the near-term, several changes can be made to the existing at-grade crossing. The proposal is to install a 3rd north-south track for additional capacity and make several changes to existing street crossings.

North of Tower 55, the near-term solutions would see BNSF construction 9,000 new feet of track. Street crossings would be changed, including the underpasses at Cold Springs, Gounah, and 3rd, and the closure of Peach and 1st.

The near-term proposal south of Tower 55 would see BNSF build another 9,000 feet of track, and changes to street crossings including improvements at crossings around Hemphill, and three crossings on East Magnolia closed.

In all, the near-term solutions are estimated to cost approximately $70 million and would take an estimated 1-3 years to implement.

The meat of the meeting was discussion of the two proposed mid-term solutions. Each proposal calls for the creation of a large trench to route one direction of rail traffic under the other, eliminating the at-grade crossing and its resulting backups.

The two proposals are for a North-South trench and an East-West trench.

The North-South trench would create a trench approximately 1.5 miles long from 287 to Rosedale. Built mostly within existing right-of-way, the North-South trench would add a third track and eliminate the conflict of the current crossing. As part of the North-South trench proposal, improvements to passenger rail would also be provided – reconstruction of rail paths between the T&P and ITC and other parts of the area would allow simultaneous TRE and SW2NE train operations, and a new parallel bridge over Lancaster would allow double-track operation between the T&P and ITC. This would be a big help to commuter rail projects in the area.

The North-South trench requires a comparatively minimal amount of land acquisition, being mostly in the existing right-of-way – a total of nine properties between the railroad and I-35 would be affected, 5 complete parcels south of Vickery and 4 partial acquisitions. It is likely that 3 active businesses would be displaced.

Road reconstruction along with the North-South trench would be minimal. As part of the North-South trench, the east end of Lancaster Avenue in Downtown would need to be reconstructed to be depressed 25 more feet to get under the new trench. The depression would be small – Lancaster would be back to existing height by Jones, to maintain existing connections with other Downtown streets.

In addition, the crossing at Vickery near I-35 would be closed. A new bike & pedestrian bridge would be constructed at this location to offset some of the lost connectivity.

The North-South trench would have little to no impact on the planned Fort Worth modern streetcar system.

The North-South trench is estimated to cost $565-$690 million, a figure which we have been told includes the street reconstructions. It is estimated that it would take 5-10 years to construct.

The other proposal presented was for an East-West trench. The East-West trench would run approximately 2 miles from 8th Avenue to Tennessee Avenue on the east side. It would also eliminate the at-grade crossing to free up congested rails. It would add additional east-west capacity along Union Pacific’s lines.

The East-West trench would, however, provide no improvements to commuter rail projects, adding no changes and improvements to either TRE or SW2NE or future lines.

The East-West trench would be built almost entirely within new right-of-way, and as such requires huge amounts of land acquisition. Under the design, approximately 56 full properties and 2 partial properties would have to be acquired. It would result in the demolition of approximately 35 structures, related to 18 businesses, 3 residences, 2 cell phone towers, and the T’s park & ride at the T&P station.

Virtually the entire length of the north side of Vickery Blvd. in the Near Southside would be wiped out for the new trench, removing a significant amount of land from potential urban redevelopment and likely negatively affecting the value and redevelopment efforts of nearby properties in the Near Southside in general and South Main Village in particular. From a preservation standpoint, several historic buildings would likely be negatively affected by the East-West trench.

Several street reconstruction projects would be needed as part of the East-West trench – Henderson, Jennings, South Main, and Tennessee in particular would be shut down for significant lengths of time for reconstruction, causing potential negative effects on the Near Southside as its connection with Downtown is interrupted.

We have also been told that the E-W trench would require shutting down all or part of I-35 in the affected area to re-build the freeway bridge over the potential trench.

Henderson and Tennessee in particular would be hard-hit by the East-West trench. Straight-through travel along Henderson between Downtown and the Near Southside would be removed permanently. Because of the East-West trench, Henderson would shift from a small underpass to a huge overpass, going over I-30 as well as the railways. To get over I-30, Henderson would become a 70-foot-high overpass, beginning some distance south of the Interstate and railways and ending near the existing I-30 offramp into Cherry & Lancaster.

There is not enough room for a straight rise & fall to and from the new Henderson’s 70-foot height, so two spiral ramps would need to be built to take traffic up and down to the Henderson overpass. This is where straight-through traffic would be eliminated entirely. Northbound traffic from the Near Southside to Downtown would have to spiral down and to the right to re-join the surface streets, and southbound traffic from Downtown to the Near Southside would have to spiral up to the overpass. The spiral ramps and overpass would add further obstruction, barriers, and blight to the Near Southside-to-Downtown junction. In addition, one of the spiral ramps would wrap around the historic Public Market building, further reducing that building’s appeal to new uses and potentially even requiring the demolition of the structure. The new Henderson overpass would also block off access to the historic former Dr. Pepper bottling plant across the street.

This is a rendering showing how the new Henderson would have to rise to 70 feet to cross the railways and I-30.

On the east side, Tennessee Avenue would likewise have to become an overpass, this one 35 feet tall. The circle ramps would likely take out some homes.

The East-West trench could cause significant problems for the planned modern streetcar system. Navigating the new crossing at South Main could be problematic – nobody on hand could answer for sure whether the proposal would impact the streetcar.

The East-West trench was reported in the presentation to cost a similar amount as the North-South trench – $560-$685 million. Significantly, and rather deceptively, this figure does not include the cost of road reconstructions and land acquisition. It is extremely likely that the East-West trench would cost significantly more than the North-South trench in the end. The fact that this was not made more clear in the presentation was a bit misleading. It was mentioned by the speaker but not included in any of the materials.

Finally, two long-term solutions were presented as well, though they were not the focus of the meeting. These proposals would route through traffic around the region to reduce the amount of freight traffic passing through the central city. One alternative was a single bypass route, shown above.

The other alternative was a series of bypass routes, shown above.

Either way, this is a much longer-term scenario. It would be over 300 miles in length, cost $8-$10 billion, and take 20-40 years to implement. These were presented mainly to show context of all the proposed solutions – they are not the immediate focus.

It is our opinion that, of the two options presented, the North-South trench is significantly preferred. The East-West trench would cause huge disruption to the Near Southside. It would block car, bike, and pedestrian access through the various street crossings during construction. Despite claims by NCTCOG, neither the Henderson overpass or the Tennessee overpass are “pedestrian linkages” in any way, shape, or form – their tall heights and large spiral ramps are freeway designs, not anything conducive to pedestrian linkages. They would also likely discourage drivers from using them, shifting traffic onto smaller streets more designed for future neighborhood uses. Cars that did use them would likely feel more comfortable speeding, as the elevated freeway-style bridges would provide no incentive to slow down, throwing speeding cars out onto Henderson headed into the Near Southside. There are no real answers from planners on how the East-West trench would affect the streetcar link from Downtown to the Near Southside.

In addition, the removal of the entirety of the north side of Vickery from future redevelopment creates large problems for the Near Southside. A large swath of land that could be redeveloped as a pedestrian-friendly district along Vickery would instead become a pit ringed with chain & barbed wire. It would negatively affect redevelopment efforts nearby, such as the South Main Village area and the former city recreation building on the south side of Vickery. It is likely that property values nearby would be negatively affected. It would also likely have negative impacts on the T&P park & ride under I-30, which would also negatively impact businesses like the T&P Tavern (the T&P park & ride area is a major access point for the Tavern and any future businesses opening in the ground floor of the T&P).

The East-West trench, combined with the related Henderson overpass, creates new barriers between Downtown and the Near Southside. It is disappointing that, after so much work to redevelop and improve connections between south Downtown and the Near Southside by removing the Lancaster I-30 overhead, we would be considered undoing much of that work to create a new barrier in the form of the East-West trench.

The railroads, especially Union Pacific who owns the east-west tracks, are concerned about the North-South trench because building it in the existing right-of-way would impact their operations for however many years it takes to construct the trench. The alternative, though, would create real and long-term impacts on the Near Southside and south Downtown. Connections to Downtown, barriers to development and mobility, and further blight of the public realm are real, lasting problems that are, in our opinion, more significant than the temporary problems that would affect the railroads if the North-South trench were chosen instead. NCTCOG must choose between temporarily inconveniencing the mighty Union Pacific and BNSF, or permanently impacting the Near Southside with blight and barriers. In our opinion, the East-West trench as presented in the presentation is not a desirable option.

Neighborhoods on the near east and Near Southside, including Fairmount and Ryan Place, are also speaking out against the East-West trench. There is a long road ahead for the Tower 55 problem, and the public meetings made it clear that the East-West trench’s support mainly comes from Union Pacific and BNSF – local businesses, residents, property owners, and neighborhood associations appear to be strongly in opposition to it.

There will be plenty more to come – analysis of the alternatives is to be complete by September, with environmental analysis taking place in the first quarter of 2010. In the mean time, you can go to NCTCOG’s Tower 55 web site to download the presentation and schematics for each of the two trenches.

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DFW.com is reporting that Vance Martin, of the foodie favorite Lili’s Bistro on Magnolia between Spiral Diner and Panther City Bicycles, will be opening a new restaurant, Cat City Grill, in the former Catholic Charities building at 5th Avenue & Magnolia currently being revamped by developer Fran McCarthy.

The menu will continue to evolve as the partners ready the space to open in late September or early October. Vance says the pricing will be similar to Lili’s: lunch entrees should be between $9 and $12, and most dinner entrees will be no more than $25. The food will be approachable but interesting.

“We want it to be creative and innovative without getting too far out there,” he says.

Steaks will be a focus – they plan to offer a filet, rib eye and flat iron and do some combos with scallops and shrimp – but Vance says they don’t want to bear that label.

“We feel like there’s a need for great steaks and seafood, but we don’t want to be branded a steakhouse,” he says. “We’ll start with a few and see if there’s a market for more.”

Cat City Grill will also offer a wide range of sandwiches, such as:

…a ham and cheese made famous in Pittsburgh, one of the signatures from a New York place like Katz’s, a Philly cheesesteak patterned after those at Pat’s or Geno’s, perhaps a muffaletta a la Central Grocery in New Orleans and even a bahn mi that’s always popular at Vietnamese cafes.

Cat City Grill will be about twice the size of Lili’s, with seating for between 80 and 90 inside and another 30 in a patio space.

The redevelopment of the Catholic Charities building has been ongoing for a little while now, with office tenants moving in upstairs. This is definitely the largest announcement for the building’s ground-floor retail space, though. Once opened, Cat City Grill will be open for lunch Monday through Friday and dinner Monday through Saturday.

A brief aside…

It was brought to our attention over the weekend that one of the reasons a neighborhood, say Fairmount in this case, that’s being reborn has such a hard time dislodging long-time slumlords is because the appraised value of their property is ridiculously low. We’re not talking about the home/duplex/whatever on the property – just the land itself.

We’ve noticed that, in Fairmount to continue the example, your average nicely kept/restored home sits on land that TAD says is worth around $35,000. The slummy properties, often located directly next to the aforementioned nicely kept ones, on the same size lot? TAD says that land’s $8,000. No wonder the slumlords don’t leave – they’re paying tremendously under-valued property tax compared to the people actively improving the neighborhood.

Maybe we’re missing something in this equation, and if we are, we will be happy to be corrected. At first glance, though, it appears that it pays to be a slumlord in Fort Worth.

Our friend Dan McGraw in the Fort Worth Weekly has written a lengthy, very well-done article about the Near Southside, focusing on people like The Carillion Group’s Eddie Vanston. Vanston is interviewed, along with architects Robert W. Kelly, Fort Worth South’s Paul Paine, developer/musician Tom Reynolds, and yours truly.

Some quotes from the story (which runs four pages on the Weekly’s site):

“This is the shit that you don’t get if you just rehab the building and sell it off to someone else,” Vanston said. “When I got into this business in Dallas, I would just fix things up, sell them, fix up another, then sell that.” But in Fort Worth, “I decided that I wanted to own stuff. I wanted to own unique older buildings.”

So he spends his days supervising the stripping of old wooden window frames and the buffing of hardwood floors, creating loft apartments in a 1911 warehouse with 16-foot-high ceilings and concrete walls and floors. And getting the washing machines fixed. And, in the process, helping rejuvenate a neighborhood that has been dormant for decades.

Kevin Buchanan, a Fairmount resident and blogger on real estate development trends (forthworthology.com), sees those same trends but thinks the conflicts can be solved. “The Near Southside now has conflicting trends,” Buchanan said. “The medical community needs more office space, which drives prices up. The residents nearby want more restaurants and bars. Sometimes the needs of the residents are at odds with the medical community.”

Robert McKenzie Smith and Ken Schaumburg have done condo developments. Michael Barnard is restoring an old factory and union hall into living spaces and studios for artists. Barnard may even turn part of one building into art galleries, with space for a high-end food court or farmers’ market. Vanston is close to finishing out 15 loft apartments in the old Miller Manufacturing Building on Bryan Street.

“Magnolia is becoming a great mix of independent businesses and indie culture,” Buchanan said. “But what is crucial is to get South Main growing as a second major corridor. And what Vanston and the others are doing can make that happen.”

Paul Paine, director of Fort Worth South, also sees the development of a second corridor as crucial. He points out that the city’s plan to run a modern streetcar line down South Main Street and down Magnolia Avenue would link the two areas and promote “urban village” growth. “I think what started with the historic neighborhoods just south of us has pushed into the Magnolia area,” Paine said. “When more historic buildings get revived, I expect a lot of those vacant lots to be developed as new businesses.”

“When I started here four years ago, Magnolia was a wannabe,” Paine said. “Now we hear from people from Dallas that this is what Deep Ellum wished it could have been. We still have a lot of challenges left, but we feel we have turned the corner.”

And a great quote from Eddie about the Stockyards and the often infuriating Fort Worth tendancy for “old money” types to sit on property in redeveloping neighborhoods for years or decades at a time to “wait it out”:

He lets loose with some of his pet peeves about Fort Worth and his business. The Stockyards should be bulldozed. “This city has nothing to do with the meat-packing business any more, and everything down there is just the same old crap,” he said.

And he gets a little pissed at the old guard who are holding onto vacant lots waiting to see how everything plays out. “People always make lots of excuses,” he said, “blaming the economy and the market and everything else they can think of [for not developing their real estate]. But they have been holding on to these properties for decades. We’ve proven that this part of town is doable. So these old-money people should just do it. Or sell their property to someone who will.”

Indeed. Go read Dan’s whole article.

As we reported earlier, Ellerbe Fine Foods has had their soft opening this week as they work out the kinks in their systems. We stopped by and gave it a try.

First, the renovation of the old gas station is outstanding. The building is light and open, like a loft, and features concrete floors, skylights, and huge windows. The repurposing of the gas pump island into a large outdoor dining area is just great. It’s a beautiful redevelopment from beginning to end. The market space isn’t open and stocked just yet, as they’re working on getting the restaurant going first before opening the market.

For appetizers, we tried the cheese sampler plate, which was delicious. Our server gave us the rundown on the various cheeses, and brought along some fresh-baked bread as well. All the food at Ellerbe is extremely fresh, and much of it is local – much of it is grown by local farmers, with other selections coming from more exotic locales.

The bread, by the way, is wonderful, and is served with a butter from Europe and some red salt.

For our main course, we were a little worried at first. The items under the entree section are all meat-based in some way, and everybody at Fort Worthology is vegetarian. Turns out that there is a vegetarian option not on the menu, that changes daily depending on what is fresh and available. We ordered this, and received a very fresh and flavorful pasta dish featuring pappardelle pasta and grilled seasonal veggies, topped with a crunchy garnish. It was quite filling and very tasty as well.

For dessert, we debated on the chocolate tort (featuring graham cracker and marshmallow, sort of a spin on a s’more) before deciding to go with the bread pudding. Ellerbe’s bread pudding is a more refined, and simplified, dish than what you might normally find around here – no raisins or other extra ingredients, and the consistency is more cake-ish. It’s covered with whiskey sauce and pralined pecans, and is simply wonderful.

Price wise, Ellerbe is definitely one of the higher-end establishments on Magnolia, though along with the prices you do get very tasty and fresh food along with great service. We’re really looking forward to seeing how things go as they refine the process over the coming weeks. We also look forward to the market opening up later down the road.

Here are some more photos from Ellerbe’s first day of business. We arrived before the dinner rush (and when we left, it was quite busy indeed, both inside and out).

Last night at the Central Library in Downtown Fort Worth, the city showcased a draft of a radically altered and improved bicycle transportation plan called “Bike Fort Worth.” Aiming to replace the rather lacking 1999 bike route plan with a more robust and elaborate system, the city has been working for a year and a half on “Bike Fort Worth,” and the results look impressive.

With “Bike Fort Worth,” the city has laid out ambitious goals: to triple the level of bicycle transportation in the city, to reduce the number of bicycle-related accidents by 1/4, and to attain official designation as a “Bicycle Friendly Community” from the League of American Bicyclists – all by 2015.

With “Bike Fort Worth,” it is clear that the city is making a huge new commitment to the “Complete Streets” movement and that the attitude of planning and transportation at City Hall has truly radically shifted. Now, let’s dive into some of the details of “Bike Fort Worth.”

(Apologies for the weird photos – seating was limited and we were at an angle.)

Some of the challenges identified in “Bike Fort Worth” are our high-speed arterials with no bike provisions, unsafe behavior by both motorists and bicyclists, street design features that are unfriendly to bicycles, missing connections between bike facilities and neighborhoods, and a lack of convenient and safe bike parking & storage at destinations. “Bike Fort Worth” aims to address all of these issues – and let’s start by taking a look at the subject most near and dear to our hearts here at Fort Worthology: bike lanes, routes, and trails.

In the 2007 bicycle survey, the message from respondents was strong: when asked what would encourage residents to bicycle more often, 86% said “bike lanes,” 84% said “new trails,” and 68% said “signed bike routes.” “Bike Fort Worth” addresses all three forms of infrastructure.

The new bicycle transportation system aims to provide links to existing and planned bike facilities in neighboring cities, provide safe bicycle routes along major corridors, identify alternative parallel routes to major arterials too large for safe bicycle accommodation (think six-lane plus designs), fill gaps in bicycle routing and linkages, overcome barriers to bike travel between neighborhoods and destinations, and provide connections to major destinations. Links to transit centers, existing and planned rail stations, the Urban Villages, Downtown Fort Worth, schools, colleges, universities, major employers, the Trinity Trails, and parks and recreation areas are all part of “Bike Fort Worth.”

“Bike Fort Worth” identifies three categories of bike infrastructure and uses them all: on-street striped bicycle-only lanes, on-street bike routes marked with “sharrows,” and off-street trails. Related are several other pieces of bike-friendly infrastructure, including intersections with sensors properly tuned to detect bicycles, bicycle-only traffic signals where trails and on-street facilities cross, and new crossings of barriers such as the Trinity River.

“Bike Fort Worth” proposes a huge increase in the scope and quality of bike infrastructure in the city of Fort Worth. At present, there are approximately 39.6 miles of “sharrow” bike routes, 8.5 miles of striped bicycle-only lanes (including the new Magnolia Avenue “road diet”), 58.4 miles of off-street trails, and 3.9 miles of “sidepaths” (wider sidewalks in situations where bikes-on-sidewalk is appropriate). In all, there are 109.4 miles of bike infrastructure in Fort Worth.

Under “Bike Fort Worth,” our bike infrastructure would be radically increased:

• Sharrow routes would jump from 39.6 miles to 224.1 miles.
• Bus-only lanes in Downtown would change to bus & bike-only, for a total of 1.75 miles.
• Striped bicycle-only lanes would massively increase from 8.5 miles to a truly impressive 475.9 miles.
• Off-street bike trails would increase from 58.4 miles to 153.3 miles.
• Sidepaths would increase from 3.9 miles to 43.1 miles.

Total on-street bicycle infrastructure would jump to 704.75 miles, and total off-street would go to 196.4 miles. Truly, this is a paradigm shift in bicycle transportation in the city of Fort Worth.

Highlights of new off-street trails include:

• New Trinity Trails extensions, connections, and crossings.
• A new connection between the Trinity and Sycamore trails.
• Trail Drivers Park to Trinity.
• New trails along the Trinity Uptown waterfront.

Above is a view showing primarily Downtown, the Cultural District, and the Near Southside. Among the highlights:

• New dedicated lanes in the Near Southside – at a minimum, the plan wants all of Magnolia from 8th to South Main, all of Rosedale from 8th to South Main, all of Pennsylvania from 12th to South Main, all of Vickery from Adams into the east side of the city, Jennings from Magnolia into Downtown where it joins up with Throckmorton, South Main from Lancaster all the way south to Morningside, Summit from Rosedale to 5th Street in Downtown, 12th Avenue from Pennsylvania to Rosedale, Cooper from 12th Avenue to Summit, and College from Pennsylvania to Rosedale. These dedicated lanes would be supplemented by existing and new “sharrow” routes. We say “at a minimum” because it was made clear that this is the “Bike Fort Worth” minimum and the even greater number of striped lanes in the Near Southside design standards are still available through the Near Southside TIF and other mechanisms.
• A large network of sharrow routes in Downtown, in a reversal from the previous plan’s position that Downtown was already bike friendly enough.
• Re-marking the Throckmorton and Houston bus-only lanes in Downtown into bus & bike-only lanes.
• Dedicated bike lanes on 3rd Street from the east side of Downtown all the way out to East 1st, continuing on to the east from there.
• Dedicated bike lanes on Sylvania running long-distance from north to south.
• Dedicated bike lanes on East Lancaster from Downtown to Tennessee.
• A new sharrow route on Henderson from 5th to Belknap that turns into a dedicated lane from Belknap to White Settlement.
• Dedicated bike infrastructure on all the new Trinity River Vision bridges at White Settlement, Henderson, and North Main.
• Dedicated bike lanes on White Settlement from North Main west past Rockwood/Westview.
• Dedicated bike lanes on Bailey from White Settlement to the big University/7th/Camp Bowie/Bailey intersection.
• Dedicated bike lanes on Carroll from West 7th to Whitmore, joining a sharrow route from Whitmore to White Settlement by way of Foch.
• Dedicated bike lanes on Foch from West 7th to Crestline.

A close-up view of Downtown. One of the biggest changes and improvements in “Bike Fort Worth” is the creation of real bike connections between districts in the central city – dedicated bike lanes will carry riders between the Near Southside and Downtown on South Main, Jennings, and Summit. Dedicated bike lanes will also connect to the Cultural District – which we’ll get to in a moment.

Looking further south:

• A number of new sharrow routes increase connections between existing routes and new bike lanes. A new route more directly connects to Forest Park, for example – a sharrow route will run down Park Place to the trails.
• New dedicated bike lanes on Forest Park and McCart from Huntington to West Devitt.
• New sharrow route down Rogers, between Cantey and new dedicated bike lanes on Lovell and West Vickery.
• New dedicated bike lanes on University, from Cantey heading south past Berry (not shown here but presumably to Bluebonnet Circle at least).
• New sharrow route on Hartwood, Mockingbird, and Colonial.
• New dedicated bike lanes on Stadium from Cantey to Berry, then dedicated lanes heading out West on Berry and Bellaire.
• New dedicated bike lanes on East Allen and East Maddox from I-35 to Comer.
• New dedicated bike lanes on Nashville.

Also seen here is the long-distance route of the new dedicated bike lanes on Sylvania/Riverside.

In the Cultural District, we see:

• The previously mentioned dedicated bike lanes on White Settlement, Bailey, Carroll, and Foch.
• New dedicated bike lanes on Lancaster from Currie to Montgomery right past the museums.
• A sharrow connection on Lancaster between Currie and Foch.
• Dedicated bike lanes on Montgomery from West 7th south.
• New sharrow routes on Crestline, Trinity Park, Cedar Elm, West 7th west of University, Dorothy, Bailey north of White Settlement, Hillcrest, Ashland, El Campo, Byers, Owasso, and Harley west of Montgomery.
• New dedicated bike lanes on Harley between Montgomery and University through the Will Rogers Memorial Center, joining the sharrow route on a brief stretch of University to Crestline.
• New dedicated bike lanes on West 7th between the big University/7th/Camp Bowie/Bailey intersection and Lamar in Downtown.

The dedicated bike lanes on West 7th are an especially big addition, especially with all the development activity along the street.

In addition, the plan adds extensive new signage for bike lanes, bike routes, trails, and wayfinding to destinations using the system.



“Bike Fort Worth” also looks at bicycle parking and storage. The plan calls for the adoption of mandatory bicycle parking requirements in zoning and development plans for new commercial, office, industrial, and multi-family residential development. In addition, the city will implement a “significant” bike rack installation program to radically increase the amount of public bike parking in the city. The plan calls for the placement of bike parking in convenient and logical locations by the main entrances of businesses – not stuck in the back or in the middle of nowhere. “Bike Fort Worth” will also implement preferred bike rack designs, favoring designs like the “inverted U” and “lollipop” racks and discouraging designs like the “wave” and “wheel-bender.” The plan also calls for new parking garages to provide bicycle parking space.

The plan even has strategies for replacing some on-street car parking with on-street bicycle parking, which allows the parking of a great number of bicycles in the space previously reserved for just one or two cars. A good example is shown in this Streetfilms video about bicycle parking in Portland, Oregon:

In addition, the plan calls for the construction of a Downtown Bicycle Commuter Station. An example of bicycle commuter parking can be seen in this Streetfilms video about Alewife Station in Cambridge, Massachusetts:



“Bike Fort Worth” also features extensive education, enforcement, and outreach programs:

• The plan ties into the national “Safe Routes to School” initiative, encouraging more kids to walk and bike to school.
• The city plans a “Share the Road” educational campaign to educate Fort Worth drivers and riders on safe, correct motorist/bicyclist interaction.
• A new, better bike map will be published.
• The city will participate in National Bike to Work Day and reinstitute the Clean Air Bike Rally.
• The plan calls for Fort Worth to hold Sunday Parkways – weekend days when sections of road are closed to car traffic and turned over exclusively to bicycle and pedestrian usage.

The plan for Sunday Parkways is inspired by other such events in more bike-friendly cities, such as Portland, Oregon. This Streetfilms video shows some scenes from Portland’s own Sunday Parkways:

In addition, the plan calls for changes to street design standards, subdivision standards, and the development review process to ensure bicycle support is “built-in.” The city intends to fully embrace the “Complete Streets” movement and it will be policy that street planning, design, and construction will accommodate bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit users from the very beginning.

The plan also calls for the city to launch an accurate bicycling count program, and a bicycle-related crash data & reporting program.



“Bike Fort Worth” is in draft stage and the city is currently accepting public input on the plan. The last of the three public meetings will be tomorrow night at 6:30 PM at LMRA River Pavillion, 3400 Bryant Irvin Road. After the plan is refined based on public input, it’s off to implementation. As said before, the plan’s goal is to triple bicycle travel, reduce bicycle accidents by 1/4, and attain a “Bicycle Friendly Community” rating from the League of American Bicyclists by 2015.

It’s a radical plan for a city that’s been more slow and measured in the past, but it shows the fundamental shifts in thinking and planning that are occurring at City Hall. Fort Worth is a city that is changing its thinking, and “Bike Fort Worth” is a great example of progress towards creating a more livable, sustainable Fort Worth. We came away from the presentation very impressed indeed – a big thanks to Don Koski, the Senior Planner in Fort Worth’s Transportation and Public Works Department, for putting on the presentation last night.

Gordon Dickson at the Star-Telegram has the story – the Fort Worth Streetcar is now an official part of the FW/D region’s Mobility 2030 plan, and thus is now eligible for federal transit funding:

Fort Worth’s proposed streetcar system and a commuter rail line to Mansfield are now officially part of the region’s plans and eligible for federal funding.

The two projects were added to the region’s Mobility 2030 plan Thursday during a meeting of the Regional Transportation Council, North Texas’ congressionally recognized planning body.

Adding the Fort Worth Streetcar to Mobility 2030 is a smart move that should open up new doors for the system, and further reinforces the streetcar’s place as a part of a well-rounded regional transit system covering not only longer-distance mobility through commuter and light rail, but also mobility within neighborhoods and connections from the larger rail systems.

The 12th annual Joe’s Run is this Saturday. The benefit run/walk starts at 8:00 AM at 929 Hemphill in the Near Southside, and benefits Samaritan House. This year, Joe’s Run has added a 10k to their existing 5k route. The 5k runs down Hemphill, Magnolia, 8th Avenue, Pennsylvania, South Main, and Terrell, while the 10k goes through Fairmount and Ryan Place along Hemphill, Page, Alston, Jefferson, Washington, Richmond, College, Jessamine, Adams, and Elizabeth, before hitting 8th Avenue to follow the 5k route.

For more information, or to register online, visit the Joe’s Run web site