234 replies to this topic

[BlueMound]

Does anyone know the details of this project ?
Is it still active ?

From what I gather, its a project to build a connector roadway over the railroad lines (yet underneath I-30) in order to connect Downtown (area around T&P Warehouse) with the SouthSide (area around Williamson Dickey bldg).

Is this correct ?

[AndyN]

I got several hits in google typing in Hemphill Connector + City of Fort Worth.

http://westandclear....2008/10/03/828/

It looks like the preliminary design for the public artwork was presented at the Jan. 15th 2009 City Art Commission meeting. You'd think there'd be a rendering somewhere?

Transsystems has been working on it since last year. You'd think we'd be close to final design.

AN

[BlueMound]

Thanks Andy.
Nice find.

[BlueMound]

Click below to see a graphic of the connector from the Fort Worth Gov website.
I can't really tell what the image represents.
I don't see I-30 or the T&P Warehouse bldg.
I just looks like a spruced-up intersection to me.

http://www.fortworth...lt.aspx?id=5560

[AndyN]

I actually did some more checking and found out that the Art Commission approved the design but the mayor didn't like it and asked for a redesign. Did anyone see the presentation and can comment on the original design? I hope we're not losing a visionary great design for something more milqetoast suiting the mayor's taste.

[cbellomy]

I didn't realize that the Hemphill -> Vickery -> Jennings entry into downtown was so congested.

[Fort Worthology]

It's more about connectivity than congestion. There's a big dead spot in connectivity between Jennings and Henderson in getting to the Near Southside. This opens it up and will give another path for all users - pedestrian, cyclist, and vehicular.

[cbellomy]

OK, that's a good point. Can we build it for pedestrians, cyclists and streetcars only? :-D

[Fort Worthology]

Ha - as much as I'd like that, this city is a ways off from doing something that forward-thinking, I'm afraid.

[McHand]

So does this mean they won't demolish the building that is in the way? Burns had mentioned something like that in a town hall meeting before.

[Fort Worthology]

So does this mean they won't demolish the building that is in the way? Burns had mentioned something like that in a town hall meeting before.

What building? The only one I can think of that's in the way might be that nondescript, and non-historical as far as I know, industrial building on the north side of Vickery.

[McHand]

OK, that's a good point. Can we build it for pedestrians, cyclists and streetcars only? :-D

Do enough people walk down there right now to justify something like that? I know you're joking, but just curious. I don't think I've ever seen people walking down there. Could be a lack of sufficient foot/bike access, I don't know. And, I don't get downtown as often as i used to, so I kind of depend on you guys to fill me in.

What building? The only one I can think of that's in the way might be that nondescript, and non-historical as far as I know, industrial building on the north side of Vickery.

I don't remember exactly...I didn't take notes. Is the old Dickie's building not in the way? I seem to remember that it is but I may be wrong.

[Fort Worthology]

I don't remember exactly...I didn't take notes. Is the old Dickie's building not in the way? I seem to remember that it is but I may be wrong.

Dickie's is between Jennings and Hemphill. It's safe. There's a post-war industrial building along the north side of Vickery that I assume will have to come down, but otherwise I don't think anything is in the path.

[Russ Graham]

It looks like demolition of the building in question is underway, I drove by there last night on I-30 & noticed it's being torn down. Anybody know the schedule for the rest of the project to be finished?

(this link is to the google street-view of the building, pre-destruction)

[RD Milhollin]

Geeze Looeeze, is it my imagination or does it take almost forever to get anything done around Fort Worth? I first just figured this project was quietly forgotten about, probably because some local interest or another didn't want it, and then i just forgot about it completely. Has it been in the "vision" stages for 10 years yet?

[AndyN]

That was the offices of the Rock Island Railroad, if I recall correctly.

[djold1]

I believe it was the Frisco (SL&SF) freight house and offices..

[ron4Life]

Geeze Looeeze, is it my imagination or does it take almost forever to get anything done around Fort Worth? I first just figured this project was quietly forgotten about, probably because some local interest or another didn't want it, and then i just forgot about it completely. Has it been in the "vision" stages for 10 years yet?

L=laughing M=my B=butt O=off
I do not know why it takes this city soooooooooo long. smh

[Doohickie]

I haven't been too plugged into that process, but the one thing I have picked up from the few public meetings I've been to, is that projects like this often use funding from several different sources, and it takes a lot of care and feeding of the various financial sources to get them all aligned. It may have some federal funding, state funds, city funds, TIFs, public and private grants, etc. And federal funds are not necessarily monolithic; there may be several sources that the funding comes from and a lot of them have specific rules applied to how the funding is used. Plus the funding has to be prioritized relative to other projects, and not all the funding sources will have the same priorities. It seems very complicated.

Then there is the land use issues: The rights of way have to be procured (this project looks like it is converting private lands to public rights of way, since it is cutting across blocks), EPA studies, etc.

[JBB]

Fort Worth - the city where, if dirt doesn't turn on a project the day after it's announced, posters on this forum are sure to assume it won't happen or dark forces are conspiring to keep the city small and backwards.

[BlueMound]

Postponed until 2015 ?
http://blogs.star-te...-road-diet.html

[Doohickie]

Wow, good catch.  That article is over 6 months old.

[AndyN]

I'm confused. It's a tunnel now? I always though it was to be a bridge?

[Doohickie]

If you look a tthe proposed route, it pretty much has to be a tunnel. 

[AndyN]

Well, after thirty minutes of research trying to find something definitive, I found a sketch of Dan Corson's proposed art installation and it clearly shows a tunnel. This is the first I've known of it being a tunnel. All the descriptions say "connector" and not much else. A bridge would be possible, but the positioning of the required supports would be difficult.

[Austin55]

Mind posting that picture? I love Corson's work.

[Fort Worthology]

As far as I've known about the project, it's always been a tunnel.

 

Austin - I don't recall where I saw renderings last, but I actually got to take a look at a prototype of the art installation some time back (in the old days, when I'd get invited to stuff like that).  We went with the artist and some people from Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. and actually held up a working section in one of the existing tunnels to visualize it.  It's hard to describe, but it looked pretty cool.

[JBB]

I may be mixing up the streets, but as part of one of the proposed tower 55 traffic plans, there was a huge flyover bridge planned in lieu of the tunnel.  The plan called for an east/west trench to sink the rail lines and that would have eliminated this tunnel and the one on Main and replaced them with bridges. 

[Doohickie]

I want to say that was Rosedale or something, JBB.

[AndyN]

Thanks, JBB! I was thinking I had seen a depiction of a bridge. The tower 55 work that is underway now is only part of the ultimate goal to vertically separate the crossing railroad lines. The Union Pacific's preferred plan was an east/west trench parallel and next to Vickery, as I recall. That would block the south end of the Hemphill/Lamar connector.

 

Dan Corson's vision for the tunnel can be seen in thumbnail 2/3 down the page: http://www.fwpublica...cts_in_progress

[BlueMound]

Looks like the Hemphill Connector is moving forward
Dallas construction firm has been awarded the project

http://fwbusinesspre...e.aspx?aid=6352

[mmmdan]

Now we know when work will begin on the T&P Warehouse.  The last thing I remember hearing about it was they were waiting for this project to be done because the construction crew was going to use the warehouse parking lot for staging.

[Fort Worthology]

Now we know when work will begin on the T&P Warehouse.  The last thing I remember hearing about it was they were waiting for this project to be done because the construction crew was going to use the warehouse parking lot for staging.

 

I think you forgot to use the sarcasm font.

[mmmdan]

A man can dream, can't he?

[Austin55]

Might give a boost to Vickery Ave's growth too.

[johnfwd]

Looks like the Hemphill Connector is moving forward
Dallas construction firm has been awarded the project

http://fwbusinesspre...icle.aspx?aid=6

One of these days there'll be enough local construction companies in Fort Worth to land one of these city projects (how's this for the sarcasm font!).

[JBB]

This was a project that went out for bid. Perhaps FW firms bid on the project and the Dallas firm came in lower?

[Austin55]

Does anyone know, just out of curiosity, if the tunnel will be able to accommodate streetcars, if such a thing were to happen in the future?

[renamerusk]

The $12 million Hemphill Street Connector project involves building a roadway and pedestrian pathway tunnel beneath Interstate 30 and a new rail bridge supporting four existing Union Pacific rail lines....The project will extend from Hemphill Street beyond Vickery Boulevard using a tunnel. Plans call for a four-lane arterial street comprising 12-foot lanes, a railroad bridge, retaining walls, streetlights and traffic signals. - Fort Worth Business Press

 

Not against a pedestrian pathway, though I suspect that few will walk through the tunnel, I do think ROW for bikes should be included; and of course ROW for rail transit. 

 

This seems yet again a demonstration of how impotent and shortsighted FWTA is when it comes to anything other than commuter rail.

[Dylan]

Do you really believe the FWTA should get involved with this project? Busses and streetcars can't share a lane with cars or go a different route?

 

Adding an extra lane or two is unnecessary for mass transit and would add significant costs to this project.

[Austin55]

Looky what we have here,

 

[johnfwd]

Looky what we have here,

 

Wonderful!  And it looks like the FWBP was right on the money with this statement in its July 29, 2014 article:  "Construction is expected to begin in January 2015 and reach completion by July 2016."  Kinda have my doubts about completion by summer 2016, however.

[Doohickie]

Kinda have my doubts about completion by summer 2016, however.

Don't worry, it's not the same contractor as the one that did CTPW

[JBB]

No kidding. It's hard to believe that preliminary work on the interchange at I-30 started more than 5 years ago. I'll be shocked if it's finished by summer.

[Austin55]

There's a lot of pipes on the downtown end today, along with some big construction epuiment. Looking good. 

 

 

There's also this not so clear look at the Dan Corson art piece. 

 

[Fort Worthology]

I remember going to a meeting about this art piece and feeling distinctly underwhelmed.  Oh boy, flying cow horns.  Because that certainly ties into the history and current identity of the Near Southside.

 

Maybe it'll look better in person, but I can't help but wish for a bit more forward-thinking piece of art.

 

(Also very underwhelmed by the art pieces on Rosedale, but that's for another thread.)

[youngalum]

I don't think you are ever happy

[Fort Worthology]

I don't think you are ever happy

 

Gee, thanks.

 

Also, that's nonsense.  I've expressed a lot of praise for some ongoing and recent projects - two that come to mind are the Sundance Square plaza and new buildings (an utterly *fantastic* project which I have always been extremely positive about) and the development happening on South Main right now like High Point(e), which I praised just, like, *a day or two ago* on this very forum.  Heck, *this very project* - the street connector itself - I'm very positive about, just not about the public art component.

 

I'm actually really happy these days, but I will never not think flying cow horns are cheesy.  John provides this forum for discussion, positive and negative, and unless he says otherwise I will provide both depending on my opinions and in keeping with his rules.  You can read it and agree/disagree, or stick me in your ignore file (trust me, it works wonders), that's your call.

[johnfwd]

A brief notice in FWBP by A. Lee Graham about the upcoming ground-breaking.

 

 

http://fwbusinesspre...d-March-18.aspx

[Austin55]

 

South Main appears to be exploding now with activity with the complete streets... I wonder if this will have any effect on Hemphill or Vickery nearby?