(The following story by Leslie Wimmer appeared on the Forth Worth Business Press website on March 10, 2009.)
FORT WORTH, Texas — Southwest Parkway moved forward again on Tuesday as Mayor Mike Moncrief helped disassemble a train and break in the temporary hump lead at Union Pacific Rail Road’s Davidson Yard.
Davidson Yard sits underneath the Hulen Street bridge at Vickery Boulevard. The yard’s hump lead is a section of track on a slight incline where rail yard workers disassemble trains, use gravity to move the separated train cars down the incline and onto one of the yard’s 43 destination-specific rail lines, putting together new trains.
Union Pacific Rail Road Chairman and CEO Jim Young said now that the hump lead is open, both the company’s customers and Fort Worth will benefit.
Opening the hump lead “means more productivity for our customers,” Young said. “This also accelerates the investment we made in expanding operations in Dallas and Fort Worth, and it helps Fort Worth to handle their growth with the Southwest Parkway.”
Starting construction on Southwest Parkway will be a big step forward for the city, Moncrief said.
“This is a huge deal for us, and it’s a quality of life issue,” Moncrief said. “This will allow us to build a Fort Worth road the Fort Worth way.”
The Southwest Parkway – officially named SH-121T – has been under consideration for decades to ease traffic congestion on Hulen Street and Bryant Irvin Road.
The total estimated cost for the project is between $1.1 billion and $1.3 billion.
On March 5, the Regional Transportation Council voted unanimously to spend $143 million in federal stimulus money on the Southwest Parkway.
The $143 million is the entire portion of the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s allocation of federal stimulus funds, and the money will go to pay for two interchanges on Southwest Parkway.
The first interchange is located at Interstate 20 and the future SH 121 alignment and the second is located at Highway 67 in Cleburne. About $133 million will go toward the interchange at Interstate 20 and $10 million will go toward the interchange at Highway 67.
The Texas Department of Transportation will be in charge of construction on the interchange at Highway 67 and the North Texas Tollway Authority will be in charge of construction on the interchange at I-20.