Modern Streetcars

About

In 2008, the Fort Worth City Council appointed a Modern Streetcar Study Committee to investigate the feasibility of a modern streetcar system. The committee’s fact-finding trip to Oregon and Washington determined that a streetcar system is desirable for Fort Worth.

The system would connect Downtown and Trinity Railway Express to adjacent mixed-use districts.

Preliminary cost estimate is $20 million per track mile and includes design, construction, utilities, vehicles and a maintenance facility. The total cost of the initial project, if built as recommended by the study committee, is estimated at $250 million. The initial route would rely primarily on multiple sources of local funding, including existing tax-increment financing districts and new or existing public improvement districts.

Fort Worth has joined with the North Central Texas Council of Governments and the City of Dallas in a regional grant application that could provide limited federal funding for Fort Worth’s streetcar system.

Updates

Nov. 23, 2009: The Regional Transportation Council has allocated $1.6 million in federal funds, and the City of Fort Worth and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority (The T) have allocated $200,000 each for planning and design of a streetcar system to complement the regional rail system. A new 20-member task force will guide the planning and design effort for Fort Worth’s future modern streetcar system.

Events

Tracks to the Future
Friday, Dec. 11, 2009
Sheraton Fort Worth
1701 Commerce St.
8 a.m.-3 p.m.

$50 registration includes continental breakfast , lunch and all conference sessions.

Links

• Reconnecting America 
• DART 
• Portland Streetcar 
• Seattle Streetcar 
• Sound Transit 

Task Force

The Task Force will guide the planning and design effort, recommend an initial streetcar route and submit a finance plan to City Council, The T board of directors, Tarrant County Commissioners Court and other stakeholders.

• Nina Petty, Task Force Chair, Greater Fort Worth Real Estate Council
• Bob Parmelee, Fort Worth Transportation Authority
• Roy Brooks, Tarrant County Commissioners Court
• Joy Webster, XTO Energy, representing the TIF Board
• Scott Rule, Tarrant County Hospital District, representing the TIF Board
• Fran McCarthy, Central City Redevelopment Committee
• Phillip Poole, Associated Businesses of the Cultural District
• Andy Taft, Downtown Fort Worth Inc.
• Johnny Campbell, Sundance Square
• Paul Paine, Fort Worth South Inc.
• Andre McEwing, Southeast Fort Worth Inc.
• J.D. Granger, Trinity River Vision Authority
• David DuBois, Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Adam Adolfo, Artes de la Rosa
• Janet Saltsgiver, neighborhood representative
• Rod Erakovich, Texas Wesleyan University
• Pam Minick, Historic Stockyards
• Jamie Terrell, local transit user
• Michael Morris, North Central Texas Council of Governments
• Carlos De La Torre, Oncor