A cyclist rides along Hemphill Street May 5, 2022, in Fort Worth.
Yffy Yossifor
yyossifor@star-telegram.com
Residents will have another chance to weigh in on the future of a major Fort Worth street.
In August, the Fort Worth Transportation and Public Works department will have a community meeting to review feedback on changes to Hemphill Street’s bike lanes, bus pull-outs and pedestrian infrastructure.
In 2020, Fort Worth restriped Hemphill Street from Hammond Street to Vickery Boulevard, from five lanes to three, and added bike lanes, bus pull-outs and street parking.
The new infrastructure was envisioned as a gateway to becoming another vibrant extension of the bustling Near Southside district, but after it was complete, some residents claimed that traffic congestion got even worse, and the bike lanes weren’t being used.
The city held a community meeting in April to begin trying to answer one big question: how to balance the corridor’s character and encourage local business growth while improving long-term traffic.
At that meeting, city representatives reviewed initial findings from a study that predicted daily traffic would nearly double along many stretches of Hemphill before 2045 if the three lanes went untouched.
The city proposed three solutions for the future of the striping on Hemphill:
In the first scenario, the three lanes go unchanged for the entirety of Hemphill Street from Hammond Street to Vickery Boulevard.
In the second scenario, the three lanes would return to five lanes south of Allen Avenue.
In the third scenario, the city would return all of Hemphill to five lanes, with a section between Rosedale Street and Allen Avenue becoming four lanes. This scenario, according to the study, “provides the strongest longterm operational performance and accommodates projected growth through 2045.”
The restriping would also remove the pedestrian, bike, and public transit infrastructure to make room for the original traffic lanes.
The city additionally opened a survey that allowed residents to choose which option they preferred, and an additional option was added to the survey that would restore five lanes south of Berry Street, which would also remove the added infrastructure.
The survey is still open, until July 31. Residents will be able to provide feedback and meet with city officials at 6 p.m. Aug. 26 at Victory Forest Community Center, at 3427 Hemphill St.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Emily Holshouser is a local news reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.