Ten-mile McCart Avenue plan, with narrower medians and new crossings, goes to council for adoption Tuesday

A long-range plan for remaking McCart Avenue across south Fort Worth is scheduled to go before the City Council for adoption on Tuesday, Nov. 10, after the City Plan Commission recommended it last month.

The McCart Avenue HOTT Corridor Project covers about 10 miles of the avenue, from Interstate 20 south to Burleson, and was paid for through the city's 2022 bond program, according to a Fort Worth Report Documenters account of the Oct. 8 commission meeting published Saturday.

What the plan proposes

City staff told the commission the corridor has high crash rates, gaps in its sidewalks and transit access, aging shopping areas that have seen little new investment, and a patchwork of land uses. The plan's recommendations include:

• real-time traffic management systems
• better pedestrian and transit facilities, including filling sidewalk gaps
• shared-use paths
• fiber conduit along the corridor
• redesigned intersections
• zoning changes that would allow mixed-use development
• improvements to parks along the route

Work is split into two stages. In the near term, the city would focus on pedestrian crossings, shared-use paths, lighting and technology upgrades. Larger roadway reconstruction, including narrowing the medians, is listed as a long-term priority.

What residents said

Outreach over the past two years drew more than 580 survey responses, along with stakeholder committees and targeted contact with businesses, churches, schools and residents, according to the Documenters notes.

City staffer Armond Bryant told the commission that the feedback was consistent along the entire route. "We heard that universally, from I-20 through Crowley, and from Burleson residents," Bryant said, according to the Fort Worth Report. He said people wanted changes ranging from park and retail improvements to safety upgrades, redesigned intersections and completed sidewalks.

The plan is tied to the city's master transportation plan, which the council adopted in June. Adoption of the corridor plan would set the long-term vision; the Documenters account did not list cost estimates or a construction schedule for the individual projects.

Sources

fortworthreport.org