54 replies to this topic

[Austin55]

WELL since everyone else is doing this...

 

Here's #1. This is a 4 line light rail plan which runs almost entirely on existing tracks in order to not disrupt road traffic, with only 2 exceptions. This would also allow larger trains to be run. However, new tracks would ned to be layed in many places. The idea here was to connect some of the cities most important locations to each other, but also to run lines through underdeveloped and dilapidated areas to attempt to spur growth. Below is each line explained in more detail

 

The Red line runs west and is probably the least interesting and has the fewest stops, I'd imagine it may not be heavily trafficked and really would depend on the Success of Clear Fork. 

 

Red Line Stops-

-ITC
-T&P Station

-Midtown

-University Park

-Clearfork

 

The Purple line runs north to south is the only line to not connect to the ITC, but does offer several opportunities to transfer for downtown bound riders. It's primary stops are at TCU and the West 7th area (which I imagine would be highly trafficked by students). Except for an area on campus and about 1 mile where it would run on Berry St, the line completely follows tracks.

 

Purple Line Stops

-Campus Commons

-Bookstore

-Berry

-Cantey 

-Park Place

-Magnolia (Yellow Connector

-Midtown (Red Connector)

-Forest Park

-Montgomery Ward

-Panther Island

-N. Main

-Stockyards Station

 

 

The Green line completely follows existing tracks and runs East. This lines intention is to spur as much development and revitalization along the route as possible, as much of what as it runs through is rather dilapidated. More Stations could be added as desired.

 

Green line Stops

ITC
Near Eastside
Texas Wesleyan

Tierney & Rosedale

Handley 

 

The Yellow line Would probably be the most used line, running mostly north/south. Except for Magnolia, this line also completely follows existing tracks. Because of Baylor hospitals positioning at the end of Magnolia, I'm not sure the best way to connect this line to the purple line, perhaps a short quarter mile tunnel under the hospital. 

 

Yellow line stops

Baylor (Purple Transfer)

Magnolia & Hurley

Magnolia & Henderson

Magnolia & Hemphill

Magnolia & South Main

Rosedale

South Main

ITC

Sundance East

Rock Island

Samuals

Stockyards Station

Long & Grove

Meacham

 

 

Potential Issues

The Purple line would probably encroach on TexRail, but I basically designed this with the assumption that TexRail will never get past downtown and only serve as a downtown-DFWIA connector. 

It also bothers me that there is no direct connection between downtown and the Cultural district. This could be easily done with a streetcar down 7th or Camp Bowie. The Amon Carter is about 1 mile from the Montgomery Stop and is a pleasant walk or bike ride.

 

Further Expansion

The Yellow line could potentially run all the way to Dallas, passing through both downtown Arlington and Grand Prairie on the way. It runs very near by UTA, Arlington's entertainment district, The GM plant, Dallas Navy Station, and into Oak Cliff.

The Red and Purple lines could continue into Benbrook.

An extension of the Yellow line could run south to Crowley or Burleson

A new line could branch off the green line towards Mansfield

The Yellow or Purple lines could continue north, potentially connecting TMS, Alliance, and Denton

 

The all important map!

[Dylan]

A few ideas for your long-range lines:

 

- Extend the red line to the JRB (there's an abandoned spur that goes north just past 183/SW Blvd).

- End the green line in Arlington. No need to have it go to Dallas since the TRE already does that.

- With your assumption of no TEX Rail southwest of downtown, spit the purple line in two at the red line, and have each of the two new lines start DT.

- Perhaps have the purple line go into Stockyards Station. People can't get to the Stockyards from your current Stockyards stop without a shuttle or massive bridge with lots of walking.

 

- Don't bother with TMS. It may be nice for fans like me to have an alternative to the traffic nightmare on race days, but unless you plan on building thousands of park and ride spots and running dozens of trains at the exact same time after the race, there's no way a line to TMS would be able to handle the capacity on race days. Keep in mind that TMS holds well over 100,000 people. Assuming only 10% take the train and 90% drive there, that's still over 10,000 people who will be heading there and back at the exact same time. Also, there are only three race weekends a year.

 

As far as the yellow line, the only way that will work is if you close Magnolia to vehicle traffic. Streetcars can't run on freight lines, and commuter rail trains don't run down streets.

[Jeriat]

WELL since everyone else is doing this...

 

Here's #1. This is a 4 line light rail plan which runs almost entirely on existing tracks in order to not disrupt road traffic, with only 2 exceptions. This would also allow larger trains to be run. However, new tracks would ned to be layed in many places. The idea here was to connect some of the cities most important locations to each other, but also to run lines through underdeveloped and dilapidated areas to attempt to spur growth. Below is each line explained in more detail

 

The Red line runs west and is probably the least interesting and has the fewest stops, I'd imagine it may not be heavily trafficked and really would depend on the Success of Clear Fork. 

 

Red Line Stops-

-ITC
-T&P Station

-Midtown

-University Park

-Clearfork

 

The Purple line runs north to south is the only line to not connect to the ITC, but does offer several opportunities to transfer for downtown bound riders. It's primary stops are at TCU and the West 7th area (which I imagine would be highly trafficked by students). Except for an area on campus and about 1 mile where it would run on Berry St, the line completely follows tracks.

 

Purple Line Stops

-Campus Commons

-Bookstore

-Berry

-Cantey 

-Park Place

-Magnolia (Yellow Connector

-Midtown (Red Connector)

-Forest Park

-Montgomery Ward

-Panther Island

-N. Main

-Stockyards Station

 

 

The Green line completely follows existing tracks and runs East. This lines intention is to spur as much development and revitalization along the route as possible, as much of what as it runs through is rather dilapidated. More Stations could be added as desired.

 

Green line Stops

ITC
Near Eastside
Texas Wesleyan

Tierney & Rosedale

Handley 

 

The Yellow line Would probably be the most used line, running mostly north/south. Except for Magnolia, this line also completely follows existing tracks. Because of Baylor hospitals positioning at the end of Magnolia, I'm not sure the best way to connect this line to the purple line, perhaps a short quarter mile tunnel under the hospital. 

 

Yellow line stops

Baylor (Purple Transfer)

Magnolia & Hurley

Magnolia & Henderson

Magnolia & Hemphill

Magnolia & South Main

Rosedale

South Main

ITC

Sundance East

Rock Island

Samuals

Stockyards Station

Long & Grove

Meacham

 

 

Potential Issues

The Purple line would probably encroach on TexRail, but I basically designed this with the assumption that TexRail will never get past downtown and only serve as a downtown-DFWIA connector. 

It also bothers me that there is no direct connection between downtown and the Cultural district. This could be easily done with a streetcar down 7th or Camp Bowie. The Amon Carter is about 1 mile from the Montgomery Stop and is a pleasant walk or bike ride.

 

Further Expansion

The Yellow line could potentially run all the way to Dallas, passing through both downtown Arlington and Grand Prairie on the way. It runs very near by UTA, Arlington's entertainment district, The GM plant, Dallas Navy Station, and into Oak Cliff.

The Red and Purple lines could continue into Benbrook.

An extension of the Yellow line could run south to Crowley or Burleson

A new line could branch off the green line towards Mansfield

The Yellow or Purple lines could continue north, potentially connecting TMS, Alliance, and Denton

 

The all important map!

 

Another good, thought out idea. 

Connects well to neighborhoods I didn't even think about. I do like how some of the lines are following already existing rail lines... 

[Austin55]

^Jeriat-I wanted to make sure that cars would be disrupted as little as possible, in a car dominate city like FW I feel that is important, especially from the general publics perspective. It would also seem to me that these mostly empty freight corridors would be cheaper and much less disruptive to build on. 

 

 

A few ideas for your long-range lines:

 

- Extend the red line to the JRB (there's an abandoned spur that goes north just past 183/SW Blvd).

- End the green line in Arlington. No need to have it go to Dallas since the TRE already does that.

- With your assumption of no TEX Rail southwest of downtown, spit the purple line in two at the red line, and have each of the two new lines start DT.

- Perhaps have the purple line go into Stockyards Station. People can't get to the Stockyards from your current Stockyards stop without a shuttle or massive bridge with lots of walking.

- Don't bother with TMS.

As far as the yellow line, the only way that will work is if you close Magnolia to vehicle traffic. Streetcars can't run on freight lines, and commuter rail trains don't run down streets.

 

-I've made a mock-up of what that could look like below. I do wonder if using that line would ever happen as it passes through many residential areas, the residents would probably object. 

-The Green lines potential to go to Dallas is that it could also connect places like UTA and the entertainment district to Downtown Dallas. Such a thing would probably be better off as heavy rail. It wouldn't really overlap TRE coverage as it would mostly serve commuters in Arlington, the only overlap would be the Downtown Dallas-Downtown FW ride.  Either way I don't think that'd be needed served as light rail. I'll go further into this in a future post. 

-Where would the splits go?

-With the he way it is set up, the end of Exchange is about 1,000 feet away, and Main about half a mile. Not to far, but TexRail having a stockyards stop could be an issue, shown here, (The red shaded areas are areas where TOD could potentiall be developed)

 

-Your point about Magnolia is something I wasn't sure about. I know very little about gauges and whatnot, but I wanted to follow existing corridors rather than existing tracks. I could see Magnolia being one of the few streets where no road traffic could actually be embraced, most of the parking access is of perpendicular streets anyway. On Berry, however it could be an issue. I was thinking something similar to the CapMetro station on 4th street in Austin. It also could pose an issue for another expansion, shown below.

 

Updated map

Here is something a newer one, with three additions, As PeopleAreStrange suggested, extending the red line to JRB/Lockheed and an extension I've made of the green line. It now goes straight West into the T&P station, goes behind the T&P warehouse and merges onto Lancaster from there, where it would continue on the roadway into the Museum District. This route is pretty much a tourist one, but could still serve UNT and parts of W7. Thirdly, A Blue line which would run from the ITC to La Gran Plaza.

[claxton]

Looks good. My only suggestions would be to first, use the purple line to extend up to Meacham Airport. Then, take the yellow line and have it cross over to the east of 35 at some point. I think it would be a big benefit to folks that work in the Mercantile Plaza development at 35 and Meacham.

[Dylan]

Your stockyards idea may create TOD, but that's a very long walk for those headed to the stockyards. I was thinking this spur:

https://maps.google....021136&t=h&z=16

 

As far as splitting the purple line at the red line, I meant create two new lines, and have each of the lines fillow the red line to downtown.

 

Looking better.

[Austin55]

 

All that said, I could see a streetcar line "snaking" from Downtown west along 5th, crossing the Trinity in a dedicated bridge connecting to westside 5th St. at the Left Bank Project and continuing across the Montgomery Plaza development and on to Currie St., where it would turn south through the new developments there, and then west onto Lancaster just west of the Trinity bridge approach. There is plenty of room on the south south side of Lancaster to widen the street to allow for safe streetcar/LR ROW all the way to Camp Bowie, where the line could run down the median all the way to Ridglea. 

 

A branch line could depart at Gendy Street and head south a few blocks to provide weekend service to gun shows, concerts and whizbangs at WRMC, Stock Show season attractions, and future events at the future Bass-Rogers Rodeo Show Arena. 

 

OK, so my idea doesn't go down 7th St. But it also doesn't screw up the traffic there much, other than crossing 7th at Currie. 7th Street is a major west-side artery, and traffic there into and out of downtown can be testy as it is; more development in the area is going to only add to the congestion. "Completing the grid" wherever possible will help local traffic by providing alternative routes, and better facilities for pedestrians and bikes will go a step further in this regard. I think the main thing is that streetcars are not tying up traffic at the Camp Bowie/University/7th intersection using this alignment, and the trains would help to encourage dense development along under-developed blocks of 5th St. while serving new dense development along Currie. 

 

 

RD-Took your ideas and illustrated them, with a couple of my own ideas. 

 

 

-Instead of Currie- I snaked the line down Foch. This street may be less dense ,but a streetcar could come underneath the Lancaster Ave. Bridge and not have any impact of Lancaster traffic at all. 

-Instead of 5th in downtown I used 4th, for two reasons. 1, the open side of Sundance Plaza is on 4th, and transit could use the plaza as a launchpad 2, 4th does'nt dead end into 287 and can be used to continue the line NE, as I've done below. This connects Hillside and the large area between 35 and the Trinity which is ripe for a Left bank style development.

 

 

[Austin55]

Got bored on the plane back from Portland, loved the rail there so much made a map for my system from post #4

 

 

[Austin55]

Subway map where all the stations are subway restaurants. 

 

[JBB]

The fact that you could ride that stretch of 7th and Camp Bowie for 3 and a half miles without seeing a Subway is pretty unbelievable.  

[Jeriat]

The fact that you could ride that stretch of 7th and Camp Bowie for 3 and a half miles without seeing a Subway is pretty unbelievable.  

 

I consider it a plus.

[Austin55]

I was reading DCTA's studies for future expansion which includes a few options for the 35W corridor.

 

 Two existing rail lines could be used for commuter rail services: the UP Railroad corridor from Denton to the Fort Worth Intermodal Center, which has the highest potential for ridership (3,550 daily riders for 2035) and the BNSF Corridor, between Sanger and Fort Worth (1,940 daily riders) which remains somewhat outside of the key future population growth areas. Alternatively, a new rail line could be constructed in this corridor if commuter bus ridership is strong and if land use policies were modified to encourage dense housing and employment development.

 

I drew up my own thoughts for the UP line. 37 miles 9 stations.

 

https://www.google.c...4250948982&z=10

[txbornviking]

I was reading DCTA's studies for future expansion which includes a few options for the 35W corridor.

 

 Two existing rail lines could be used for commuter rail services: the UP Railroad corridor from Denton to the Fort Worth Intermodal Center, which has the highest potential for ridership (3,550 daily riders for 2035) and the BNSF Corridor, between Sanger and Fort Worth (1,940 daily riders) which remains somewhat outside of the key future population growth areas. Alternatively, a new rail line could be constructed in this corridor if commuter bus ridership is strong and if land use policies were modified to encourage dense housing and employment development.

 

I drew up my own thoughts for the UP line. 37 miles 9 stations.

 

https://www.google.c...4250948982&z=10

 

"...if land use policies were modified..."

 

Say it again for those in the back, "Land Use Policies Matter!"

[tamtagon]

Great vision!

[Jeriat]

I was reading DCTA's studies for future expansion which includes a few options for the 35W corridor.

 
 Two existing rail lines could be used for commuter rail services: the UP Railroad corridor from Denton to the Fort Worth Intermodal Center, which has the highest potential for ridership (3,550 daily riders for 2035) and the BNSF Corridor, between Sanger and Fort Worth (1,940 daily riders) which remains somewhat outside of the key future population growth areas. Alternatively, a new rail line could be constructed in this corridor if commuter bus ridership is strong and if land use policies were modified to encourage dense housing and employment development.

 
I drew up my own thoughts for the UP line. 37 miles 9 stations.
 
https://www.google.c...4250948982&z=10

For your Denton line... Think it would be a good idea for during race week, we have a Spur* or just any bus run from one of the stations to TMS?

[JBB]

A bus would be more than sufficient.  Spending money on a spur to provide transportation for 3 weekends a year for events with progressively dwindling attendance and whose fans like their vehicles would be throwing money away.

[Austin55]

Yeh couldn't be hard to time a bus to run once per half hour or so.

[Jeriat]

Run one or two of the smaller busses as a shuttle from the Roanoke stop... Could work.

[Dylan]

Trinity Metro (FWTA) used to run a bus shuttle to TMS during race weekends, but they ended the service a few years ago.

 

It was no longer an option when I looked into it last year.

[Jeriat]

I wonder if they consider bringing it back with the outlets and everything else being built there.

[Austin55]

Here's a just-for-fun proposal for a redevelopment of the industrial area bounded by McCart, Seminary and Granbury.

 

Highlights include

-30 acres of auto oriented retail spaces, mostly serving as buffer between existing neighborhoods and higher densities.

-New 42 acre campus for Paschal, allowing existing campus to be reused or torn down, likely by TCU. (could be excluded if not needed)

-15 acres of additional spaces for other ISD educational facilities to expand.

-New TEXRail station situatied 1.3 miles South of Berry station, to be surrounded with Transit-Oriented Development.

-40 acres of mixed use developments along a central street with the station serving as a terminus, around 2,100 units.

-40 acres of green space, half of which is in a large "central park" just south of the main street district.

-36 acres of urban residential to contain medium density "missing middle" style homes, around 540 units

 

 

 

https://drive.google...dMG&usp=sharing

[FunkyTownTay]

I'm a big fan of this! Ever since I moved to the area, I've felt like that industrial area is due for a change. The Westcreek/Rosemont/Bluebonnet circle area would be well served by an Urban Village here. Seems like a ripe opportunity to add good density inside the loop. I'd hope for plenty of mixed-income projects in the area. Does phase 2 of Texrail already include a Westcreek station?

[Doohickie]

A couple of thoughts:  Businesses like Thornton Steel and Martin Sprocket (appear to be) active and doing well; you don't just buy them out, at least not cheaply.  (Martin frequently posts now hiring signs; Thornton just built a new office building.)

 

Heavy industrial areas probably do not get converted to residential use without extensive cleanup and remediation.

 

I'm curious as to what "Auto Oriented Retail" means to you.  Are you thinking dealerships?  Used car lots?  Auto parts stores?  All of the above?  There is actually a fair amount of what I would call auto oriented retail along Seminary east of McCart (Mrs. Doohickie got her car inspected at Tire City at Seminary & Hemphill just today).

 

If you're going to change that much of the area, what about the belt between Gambrell and Seminary (including the shark fin east of the Poop Deck)?  It might be ripe for a belt of luxury town homes or McMansions.

[Doohickie]

With the acquisition of Fort Worth Steel in 1984 Martin dramatically increased its domestic production capacity. Looking at the rest of their portfolio, it seems like asking them to close that facility would mean moving U.S. jobs overseas.

[Doohickie]

I thought of that area when the discussion about moving Paschal came up, but I don't see freeing up enough of it just for the high school, let alone the rest of the development you propose.  Also, the "green space" you have planned near Seminary and Rector is a fracking well site.

 

I don't mean to be Debbie Downer; as a South Hills resident, that would be really cool to do something like what you proposed.  I just don't see it as at all feasible.

[John T Roberts]

In addition to Doohickie's comments, within the new Paschal site, you have two very historic industrial buildings.  One is the former Texas Motorcar Association/Fort Worth Steel building, now Martin Sprocket & Gear. The other is the former Worth Mills, now All Storage - McCart.

[Doohickie]

Another thought:  I think it would be good to include an actual bridge/tunnel to cross the train tracks.  Fort Worth is trying to remove at-grade crossings wherever possible.  Some kind of a "signature bridge" connecting the southern portion of the TCU area with a train station south of Granbury would serve as a catalyst to launch redevelopment.

[FunkyTownTay]

With the acquisition of Fort Worth Steel in 1984 Martin dramatically increased its domestic production capacity. Looking at the rest of their portfolio, it seems like asking them to close that facility would mean moving U.S. jobs overseas.

I'm glad to hear that some of those businesses are thriving. It's just a shame that the nature of the steel mills means that they have huge pieces of land that are just dirt pads for storing product. The idea of that being more housing inside the loop sounds way more appealing. I'd be interested to know how many jobs exist in this area. Maybe we could have some new mixed-use development where there are apartments built on top of the steel mills 😝

Also, it seems like the Seminary could benefit from selling off their housing on McCart and using the funds to build some newer housing by the newer apartments on Seminary. Seems like they still have room to grow on the lot across from Rosemont Park.

[FunkyTownTay]

Loosely related thought/questions: Would McCart, between Seminary and Benbrook Blvd be better served as a two-lane road with a turn lane? And maybe bike lanes that could connect all the way up to Forest Park?

[Doohickie]

That would be dreamy.

 

I've ridden 8th-W. Cleburne-McCart from Fairmount to south of I-20 once or twice (late at night when there was essentially no traffic), and it's pretty good.  Making the outer edges of the pavement a bike lane would probably help the issue of the constant dips along the right lane going northbound.  I suspect they would have much less effect on a cyclist going 15 mph than a car going 40.

[John T Roberts]

Austin, in your "I don't know" parcel, you might consider abandoning the east/west railroad connection between the Fort Worth & Western Railroad and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad.  Back in the 1980's, the neighborhood started a campaign to remove that entire east/west line.  The effort was 1/2 successful, as the section between the BNSF and the old MKT line was abandoned.  It is now Victory Forest Park.  This is the stretch between Ryan Ave. and Jennings.  Due to AMSCO Steel (now Priefert), the western portion of the tracks were kept.  Removing the north/south rail connectors in the triangle would free up that property for another use and it wouldn't have two curved railroad connections through it.

[Doohickie]

The downside of a development like that would be that it would displace the population already in the area.  Even if you only redeveloped the industrial area, the increase in property values would probably block the current population from buying in their own neighborhood (and the suggestion I made about the belt between Gambrell and Seminary would kill the heart of the current neighborhood).

[Austin55]

I'm a big fan of this! Ever since I moved to the area, I've felt like that industrial area is due for a change. The Westcreek/Rosemont/Bluebonnet circle area would be well served by an Urban Village here. Seems like a ripe opportunity to add good density inside the loop. I'd hope for plenty of mixed-income projects in the area. Does phase 2 of Texrail already include a Westcreek station?

 

Yeh,that was really the idea, get more residents in and especially near a rail line. Westcreek is not included in any future TEXRail plans.

 

 

A couple of thoughts:  Businesses like Thornton Steel and Martin Sprocket (appear to be) active and doing well; you don't just buy them out, at least not cheaply.  (Martin frequently posts now hiring signs; Thornton just built a new office building.)

 

Heavy industrial areas probably do not get converted to residential use without extensive cleanup and remediation.

 

I didn't really intend this to be a "go in and systematically clear this all out overnight", more of a "here's what I think would be nice to see over the coming decades as demand and land values change". Think 2045 or so to hit build out.

 

 

I'm curious as to what "Auto Oriented Retail" means to you.  Are you thinking dealerships?  Used car lots?  Auto parts stores?  All of the above?  There is actually a fair amount of what I would call auto oriented retail along Seminary east of McCart (Mrs. Doohickie got her car inspected at Tire City at Seminary & Hemphill just today).

 

Auto oriented as in something that you'd drive up to, traditional strip mall type places. I figure this would provide a buffer between existing neighborhoods and future developments, and serve the surrounding neighborhood residents who would drive rather than walk.

 

If you're going to change that much of the area, what about the belt between Gambrell and Seminary (including the shark fin east of the Poop Deck)?  It might be ripe for a belt of luxury town homes or McMansions. 

 

I tried to avoid any of the homes in the area with the exception of that super low density neighborhood near the schools.

 

I thought of that area when the discussion about moving Paschal came up, but I don't see freeing up enough of it just for the high school, let alone the rest of the development you propose.  Also, the "green space" you have planned near Seminary and Rector is a fracking well site.

 

The Paschal bit is an oddity, I'm not sure whether or not it is even necessary. The 2 of the "green spaces" are wells, def not the right word but really the best use for them would be to surround with trees and a fence and call it a day. I'm also realizing just now that I missed one

 

In addition to Doohickie's comments, within the new Paschal site, you have two very historic industrial buildings.  One is the former Texas Motorcar Association/Fort Worth Steel building, now Martin Sprocket & Gear. The other is the former Worth Mills, now All Storage - McCart.

 

Definitely save! I didn't really define the borders on anything specific, but those (and any other worthy buildings) ought to be preserved.

 

 Another thought:  I think it would be good to include an actual bridge/tunnel to cross the train tracks.  Fort Worth is trying to remove at-grade crossings wherever possible.  Some kind of a "signature bridge" connecting the southern portion of the TCU area with a train station south of Granbury would serve as a catalyst to launch redevelopment.

 

Not sure where you mean?

With the acquisition of Fort Worth Steel in 1984 Martin dramatically increased its domestic production capacity. Looking at the rest of their portfolio, it seems like asking them to close that facility would mean moving U.S. jobs overseas.

 

I'm glad to hear that some of those businesses are thriving. It's just a shame that the nature of the steel mills means that they have huge pieces of land that are just dirt pads for storing product. The idea of that being more housing inside the loop sounds way more appealing. I'd be interested to know how many jobs exist in this area. Maybe we could have some new mixed-use development where there are apartments built on top of the steel mills

 

Martin Sprocket and Gear employs 500 at it's Fort Worth facility. Again, this isn't something I'd say need to happen tomorrow, but say if they want to expand or move to a suburban location in 20 years, maybe that land could be used for development of a denser kind.

 

Austin, in your "I don't know" parcel, you might consider abandoning the east/west railroad connection between the Fort Worth & Western Railroad and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad.  Back in the 1980's, the neighborhood started a campaign to remove that entire east/west line.  The effort was 1/2 successful, as the section between the BNSF and the old MKT line was abandoned.  It is now Victory Forest Park.  This is the stretch between Ryan Ave. and Jennings.  Due to AMSCO Steel (now Priefert), the western portion of the tracks were kept.  Removing the north/south rail connectors in the triangle would free up that property for another use and it wouldn't have two curved railroad connections through it.

 

Interesting backstory. I figured the spur wasn't heavily trafficked but didn't know if it needed to be preserved. 

 

The downside of a development like that would be that it would displace the population already in the area.  Even if you only redeveloped the industrial area, the increase in property values would probably block the current population from buying in their own neighborhood (and the suggestion I made about the belt between Gambrell and Seminary would kill the heart of the current neighborhood).

 

 

Yeh, gentrification is always a concern with these types of developments. Hopefully a minimal impact would be made, but that's obviously beyond what I can calculate for.

[John T Roberts]

In regards to removing the remaining section of railroad along W. Biddison St., it would make a nice continuation of Victory Forest Park.  However, there would have to be more work done in this strip than was done on the eastern half when it was abandoned.  In several places, the rail line is either several feet above or below Biddison.  There is also one interesting advantage here.  For the entire length, except for the block between 8th Ave. and Ryan, W. Biddison St. N. exists on the north side of the tracks.  This would allow the park to have streets on all sides.  Also, a bike path connection might be made to the north where a Zoo Creek tributary goes under the railroad between James and Stanley.  I don't think most people realize that the western half of the Rosemont neighborhood basically drains to Zoo Creek.

[FunkyTownTay]

 Also, a bike path connection might be made to the north where a Zoo Creek tributary goes under the railroad between James and Stanley.  I don't think most people realize that the western half of the Rosemont neighborhood basically drains to Zoo Creek.

Interesting! Is most of the drainage from West Rosemont underground? I can see where zoo creek goes underground at McCart and McPherson, but I have no idea where a Rosemont tributary connects to it.

[Doohickie]

 

Also, a bike path connection might be made to the north where a Zoo Creek tributary goes under the railroad between James and Stanley.  I don't think most people realize that the western half of the Rosemont neighborhood basically drains to Zoo Creek.

Interesting! Is most of the drainage from West Rosemont underground? I can see where zoo creek goes underground at McCart and McPherson, but I have no idea where a Rosemont tributary connects to it.

 

 
See Page 20 in this pdf:  http://fortworthtexa...g 6-21-2011.pdf
 
Here's some more stuff to chew on.  Scroll down to the bottom and open the Forest Park/Berry Reports.  http://fortworthtexa...cts/forestpark/

[John T Roberts]

Yes, most of west Rosemont has the drainage underground.  However, you can actually see where the old creek beds used to be located by finding all of the low spots.  Here's a link the Zoo Creek Drainage plan which shows the drainage area with an aerial photo overlaid.  It also shows where Zoo Creek extends south of W. Butler St.  See page 3 of the PowerPoint Presentation.  The two low spots on Butler west from the BNSF Railway are the two locations where the creek extended south of Butler.

 

http://fortworthtexa...3e1834fd152.pdf

[Thurman52]

Have they built the detention wall? Plan say May 2018?

[Jeriat]

Here's a just-for-fun proposal for a redevelopment of the industrial area bounded by McCart, Seminary and Granbury.

 

Highlights include

-30 acres of auto oriented retail spaces, mostly serving as buffer between existing neighborhoods and higher densities.

-New 42 acre campus for Paschal, allowing existing campus to be reused or torn down, likely by TCU. (could be excluded if not needed)

-15 acres of additional spaces for other ISD educational facilities to expand.

-New TEXRail station situatied 1.3 miles South of Berry station, to be surrounded with Transit-Oriented Development.

-40 acres of mixed use developments along a central street with the station serving as a terminus, around 2,100 units.

-40 acres of green space, half of which is in a large "central park" just south of the main street district.

-36 acres of urban residential to contain medium density "missing middle" style homes, around 540 units

 

 

 

https://drive.google...dMG&usp=sharing

 

I'm just now seeing that map... you read my mind in making that the new Pascal campus. 

(Wouldn't worry about the Steel building in the triangle. I'd just leave it alone)

[Austin55]

I frequently hear the same few complaints about TCU. “There’s no where to park”,“It’s too expensive to live close to campus”,“Can’t build new housing nearby because of existing neighborhoods”. A lot of TCU students live within a 3 mile or so radius of campus, but that’s typically too far to walk. TCU has an on campus shuttle system with 5 routes that is rather comprehensive, but the routes only stay on campus. Trinity Metro has two lines that connect to the campus, the #24 which runs East-West on Berry and the #7 which runs up university and Lancaster to connect to Downtown, but only once per hour service. Neither of these are really ideal.

 

Simple idea here to mitigate this is inspired by UT Austin, where Capital Metro run buses from campus to surrounding areas of high density residential and apartment complexes where students live.

 

Initially I came up with 2 lines, one running East-West and a 2nd going North-South, but realized the N/S line was essentially just the existing #7 but connecting to UNTHSC instead of downtown so perhaps instead of a new line it would be more efficient to just upgrade #7’s frequency and service hours, unless there is a strong need for direct connection to the UNTHSC.

 

The East/West line would serve a more unique route with the primary goal of hitting nearby apartments and connecting them with campus.

 

From University/Berry the line would head East to McCart/Forest Park. In the future, a small detour to the Berry St TEXRail station could be added. Heading north a few blocks past University Villas (40 units) and through the Frisco Heights area, which is seeing a ton of duplex development, and then jogging over to the Berkeley (716 units), before heading back south on Forest Park through Leibrock Village.

 

Heading West on Berry from University, the line could serve a few on campus locations such as Worth Hills and the athletic fields. From there, the line continues down Bellaire, with stops to serve the Royale Orleans complex. At Hulen, it would turn north, being steps from the Marquis at Bellaire (316 unts) and the retail at the intersection. The route’s western terminus would be in the old Stongegate complex which has 1,250 units in 3 different complexes.

 

In total the line is a hair over 5 miles, serves about 3,000 units of off campus housing and a few commercial stretches.

 

 

Let me know what you think

[Urbndwlr]

As part of the "TCU buys Paschal" idea, I'd love to see the original central building revealed and used. 

(apologies if this was already recommended)

 

The more I think about the issue of "can't build any density near single family residential" the more damaging I realize it is.

 

Why is it that the people who seem to speak for the neighborhoods appear to be 100% against town houses and missing middle-scale development?

We treat this as though its sacred when I'll bet there are designs that WOULD work very nicely.  How to educate the people neighborhoods who don't spend their free time learning about this stuff like many of us do (realize that is a small % of the population)

[Austin55]

Upset that Fort Worth's big fancy new Dickies Arena doesn't have a rail connection like the AAC, I tried to brainstorm a solution.

 

Departing from T&P station, the train would follow track that would be shared by TEXRail's medical district extension. Instead of turning South under I30, this train would turn North, joining onto the FWWR ROW for a half mile, passing through Forest Park Blvd and over the Trinity and through Trinity Park. After passing the levee the the route would branch off West, which would require new construction tracks that would be built south of and parallel to Lancaster Ave. The first of 2 proposed stations would be at Norwood and Lancaster, which would provide the West 7th core district with direct rail access. It would also allow whatever is built on the Farrington Feild site direct access. Further, the station is just a block away from the Kimbell Art Museum and Casa Manana. This station would also act as a transfer point for bus route 7 and the Dash. From there the tracks would continue West, crossing University, onto the Will Rogers Campus. To make way for the tracks, some parking spaces along the perimeter of the campus would need to be removed or rearranged. After passing Will Rogers Rd, the tracks would turn South along Gendy. Tracks could either use the Gendy ROW (while removing a Northbound traffic lane) or continue to run along the edge of the Will Rogers land. The line would terminate at Gendy and Harley, where another station would be added providing direct access to Dickies Arena and the Will Rogers Center. Close access is also provided to the Cowgirl HoF, Botanic Gardens, and Arlington Heights neighborhood. 

The route would require just 1.5 miles of new track after branching off the TEXRail extension, and all but a small portion sharing the FWWR ROW is city owned property, reducing costs by not requiring any new land purchases. There are only two major street crossings, Trail Dr and University, which would keep traffic interruptions to a minimum. Because of a steepish grade leading up to University a short tunnel under the road could be an alternative. I don't know if the turn under I30 is possible, but hey this is just a dream. 

 

[Dylan]

I've considered whether it would be possible to extend the TRE to the Cultural District (or West 7th Street), but I'm not sure it would be feasible.

 

I feel like massive double-decker, locomotive-powered trains are only suitable for railroad corridors... not street running. Also, you would need a steeply-graded bridge to cross over I-30.

 

Perhaps this could happen if the TRE were to switch to Stadler FLIRTs instead of locomotive-powered trains.

[renamerusk]

No...what! 

 

There should not be a commuter train crossing I-30 (Ginormous Task) , the environmental nightmare to cross both the Clear Fork and Trinity Park; and rolling pass sensitive art and sculpture housed in the Kimbell, Modern and the Carter.  Actually, this would be a very bad idea just to give rail hourly access to DA.  I think we should look at the 15 months of evidence about Commuter Rail ridership; it has not been stellar even though it has cost $1B. 

 

Do a very light rail line down Lancaster from the T&P if you must.

[rriojas71]

I would be in favor of light rail over a Tex Rail / TRE link

[rriojas71]

Upset that Fort Worth's big fancy new Dickies Arena doesn't have a rail connection like the AAC, I tried to brainstorm a solution.

 

Departing from T&P station, the train would follow track that would be shared by TEXRail's medical district extension. Instead of turning South under I30, this train would turn North, joining onto the FWWR ROW for a half mile, passing through Forest Park Blvd and over the Trinity and through Trinity Park. After passing the levee the the route would branch off West, which would require new construction tracks that would be built south of and parallel to Lancaster Ave. The first of 2 proposed stations would be at Norwood and Lancaster, which would provide the West 7th core district with direct rail access. It would also allow whatever is built on the Farrington Feild site direct access. Further, the station is just a block away from the Kimbell Art Museum and Casa Manana. This station would also act as a transfer point for bus route 7 and the Dash. From there the tracks would continue West, crossing University, onto the Will Rogers Campus. To make way for the tracks, some parking spaces along the perimeter of the campus would need to be removed or rearranged. After passing Will Rogers Rd, the tracks would turn South along Gendy. Tracks could either use the Gendy ROW (while removing a Northbound traffic lane) or continue to run along the edge of the Will Rogers land. The line would terminate at Gendy and Harley, where another station would be added providing direct access to Dickies Arena and the Will Rogers Center. Close access is also provided to the Cowgirl HoF, Botanic Gardens, and Arlington Heights neighborhood. 

The route would require just 1.5 miles of new track after branching off the TEXRail extension, and all but a small portion sharing the FWWR ROW is city owned property, reducing costs by not requiring any new land purchases. There are only two major street crossings, Trail Dr and University, which would keep traffic interruptions to a minimum. Because of a steepish grade leading up to University a short tunnel under the road could be an alternative. I don't know if the turn under I30 is possible, but hey this is just a dream. 

 

On this map you are using is says "Eastchase" near where it reads Upper West Side...  What is Eastchase?  I have never heard of that area referred to that before.  Sunset Height maybe, but never Eastchase

[John T Roberts]

I noticed that last night on another map.  I think "Eastchase" is a mislabel.  The Eastchase area of Fort Worth is near I-30 and Eastchase Parkway on the far east side of town, almost to the Fort Worth/Arlington city limit boundary.

[Austin55]

Regarding Rivian at Walsh Ranch, I'm idly wondering if Texrail could be extended all the way over there ... having one terminus at the airport and another in an enormous factory complex would drive a lot of daily ridership!

I was wondering about this too. The UP ROW is probably too tight for this to be actually possible, but I drew up a quick map. Magenta line follows those UP tracks and then branches off into Walsh with a stop at Rivian and two more stops on Walsh property at future "town center" sites. Red line continues on the UP route to Weatherford.

[Jeriat]

 

Regarding Rivian at Walsh Ranch, I'm idly wondering if Texrail could be extended all the way over there ... having one terminus at the airport and another in an enormous factory complex would drive a lot of daily ridership!

I was wondering about this too. The UP ROW is probably too tight for this to be actually possible, but I drew up a quick map. Magenta line follows those UP tracks and then branches off into Walsh with a stop at Rivian and two more stops on Walsh property at future "town center" sites. Red line continues on the UP route to Weatherford.

 

Personally, I feel like if Weatherford wants a line, they can fund/build one of their own while Fort Worth focuses more on Tarrant and Denton, but I'd be all for a detour to Walsh Ranch...

[JBB]

I don't think there's any scenario where UP gives access to that right of way.  Or allows a line to go through the fringes of Davidson Yard.