Fort Worth City Councilman Michael Crain, Parker County Precinct 4 Commissioner Mike Hale, City of Fort Worth planning staff, representatives from the Texas Department of Transportation, and area developers converged at the McAnally Middle School cafeteria on Tuesday, Oct. 27, to inform area residents about the forecast for future development in western Fort Worth and eastern Parker County.
Crain, whose Fort Worth district stretches from the Texas Christian University area all the way to Walsh, opened the meeting by explaining Fort Worth has been playing “catch-up” for years with infrastructure in the northern portions of the city. With the city now growing west, he doesn’t want the same thing to happen.
“Y’all all moved out here for a reason, and that’s why people continue to move out here. What we’re trying to do at the city and the county is make sure as people move out here, the infrastructure keeps up with the growth,” Crain said. “I will say, since Day 1 on council, even before I joined council, knowing how important this area was, fighting for the dollars to keep up with all the infrastructure that’s needed.”
Hale said Parker County has continuous dialogue with Fort Worth as the city moves west.
“A lot of these legacy ranches are selling and continue to develop,” Hale said.
Jason Crawford, senior research engineer and division head for the Research & Implementation Division at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), spoke on behalf of TxDOT to explain ongoing and future projects, especially concerning Interstate 20 and Interstate 30 from Parker County into Tarrant County.
Crawford said there are three projects in the area.
The first project, including improvements to I-20 between Markum Ranch Road and the I-20/I-30 split, and two new interchanges at Bentley Drive and Walsh Ranch Parkway, are essentially complete, he said.
Project 2 “includes improvements to I-20 and I-30 between FM 1187/FM 3325 and Linkcrest Drive. Key components of this project include ramp modifications and auxiliary lanes that will relieve congestion between FM 1187 and the I-20/I-30 split, and lowering of the interstate mainlanes to accommodate bridge clearances at FM 1187 and Walsh Ranch Parkway,” according to keep20-30moving.org.
“[It] is supposed to be complete in 2028, but it is about 75% complete as of the end of September,” Crawford said.
Project 3, from Linkcrest to the west loop, including improvements to the I-30/Spur 580 interchange, is scheduled to be complete in 2030 — it is 60% complete now.
Representatives from developments in the area described updates to their projects in Walsh, Brown Ranch, and the Dean Ranch.
Travis Clegg, a consulting engineer from Westwood Professional Services, spoke of the northwest and southwest corners of I-20 and FM 1187.
Regarding the southwest corner, Clegg said, “You see a lot of dirt work happening. That’s in the city of Willow Park. We are working through a mixed-use development. So we have a long road ahead of us. We still have a lot of studies, traffic, water, sewer, drainage to get done. We are nowhere close to getting those finished. I’m probably expecting six months of studies, planning. We do not have any users as of yet for the buildings of the property. At this point in time, we’re studying and then looking at trying to get some developers and some end-users on the property. So you can expect a lot of commercial. Expect a lot of restaurants. Maybe some medical office buildings.”
The construction of Old Weatherford Road occupied the last part of the meeting, Contraction started, then stopped, when the contract with a construction company was nullified. Chris Bosco, a principal at Freese and Nichols, said bids are out for a new contractor, and that work should resume early next year.
For information about TxDOT projects, visit keep20-30moving.org. For Fort Worth projects, see movingamillion.org. For Parker County projects, see parkercountybond.com.
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