(The following story by Gordon Dickson appeared on the Forth Worth Star-Telegram website on August 22.)
FORT WORTH, Texas — The effort to build the Southwest Parkway toll road over the Davidson rail yard west of downtown Fort Worth is suffering another setback, but officials from several agencies are optimistic they can fix it.
Construction of the 8-mile, $1 billion toll road from Interstate 30 downtown to Altamesa Boulevard in southwest Fort Worth requires cooperation from the city, the North Texas Tollway Authority and Union Pacific Railroad. Those entities thought they had a deal three weeks ago — clearing the way for construction in 2009. But Union Pacific asked for changes in the agreement that have caused further delays.
The railroad’s concerns
The Nebraska-based railroad is concerned that Southwest Parkway construction will block its ability to run trains through Fort Worth along a major east-west interstate route.
The proposed toll road would be built over a hump lead, which is used by Union Pacific to decouple and sort rail cars for cross-country shipment. Changes to that hump lead and adjoining tracks must be made before the bridge work above the railroad tracks can begin.
Union Pacific, which will be responsible for building new tracks and making other physical changes to the yard, recently agreed to assume that financial risk, a concession that proves progress is being made, company spokesman Joe Adams said.
“It’s a matter of the railroad getting the necessary track changes done on a timely basis,” Adams said in a phone interview. “It’s a question of how quickly can you get the work done in the yard, so that we can continue to have 12 inbound and 12 outbound trains a day. We’ll get the work done so you can build your bridge.”
Adams declined to elaborate on the remaining issues holding up the deal, citing a confidentiality agreement in the negotiations.
Slow progress Several other regional leaders, who gathered Thursday at a Regional Transportation Council meeting in Arlington, say they’re frustrated with the railroad’s delays. “We’ve been at this five or six months without much progress,” said Paul Wageman of Plano, chairman of the North Texas Tollway Authority.
Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, urged the agencies involved in the project to build the southern portion of the road from Interstate 20 in southwest Fort Worth to U.S. 67 in Cleburne. Building the southern portion first would put pressure on Union Pacific to reach an agreement on the northern portion, he said.
“It’s senseless to let the construction of that road be held up by the railroad,” Morris said.
If an agreement with Union Pacific can be reached, city officials hope to have the 8-mile, northern portion of the road from Altamesa Boulevard to I-30 under construction by early 2009.
Reasons for optimism Tollway authority Executive Director Jorge Figueredo and Fort Worth City Councilman Jungus Jordan are optimistic that an agreement can still be reached in a matter of weeks — making the 2009 start date realistic.
The road would be built with a combination of state highway funding and tolls. The Texas Department of Transportation is committed to pay $211 million toward the project from its metro corridor fund in 2009, including $149 million for the northern section and $62 million for the southern section, said Fort Worth deputy district engineer Charles Conrad.