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.