<\/p>\n
The city says Heritage Trace Parkway bridge will fix traffic in an area choked by rapid growth. <\/p>\n
Amanda McCoy<\/p>\n
amccoy@star-telegram.com<\/p>\n
The Fort Worth City Council voted unanimously at its Feb. 24 meeting to apply for a $25 million federal grant to build a bridge connecting two sections of Heritage Trace Parkway separated by railroad tracks.<\/p>\n
The bridge will cost roughly $60 million to build and require the city to put up $12.5 million in the process.<\/p>\n
District 10 council member Alan Blaylock, who represents the area surrounding the proposed bridge, said it has long been needed to address traffic congestion in Fort Worth\u2019s rapidly growing far north.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just need to get this done,\u201d Blaylock said.<\/p>\n
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The project has also received support from the North Fort Worth Alliance<\/a>, a collection of 49 homeowners associations representing 36,000 homes.<\/p>\n In a letter supporting the project, Alliance president Rusty Fuller argued it would relieve congestion and improve safety by diverting traffic from railroad crossings at Bonds Ranch Road and East Bailey Boswell Road.<\/p>\n Fuller cited parents getting their kids to school, improved emergency vehicle response times, and keeping oil and gas tankers away from trains as examples of the bridge\u2019s potential impact.<\/p>\n The population of the 76131 ZIP code, which covers the area surrounding the proposed bridge, grew by 66.2% over the past decade compared to 21.2% for the city as a whole, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau\u2019s American Community Survey.<\/p>\n However, the area has struggled as its two-lane east-west roads are regularly choked with traffic and blocked by busy train crossings.<\/p>\n The Heritage Trace application is the third bridge project planned for this stretch of BNSF railroad tracks stretching from East Bailey Boswell Road to the Intermodal in Haslet.<\/p>\n A short bridge crossing the tracks at Avondale-Haslet Road received $16 million worth of federal funding in November 2022<\/a>. That initial design faced opposition from BNSF because its support beams would be in the rail carrier\u2019s right-of-way.<\/p>\n The city submitted a new longer design<\/a> to a state commission in December 2025 in hopes of receiving additional grant funding.<\/p>\n A bridge crossing the tracks at Bonds Ranch Road received $17.2 million in federal funding<\/a> in 2023, however, construction isn\u2019t expected to start until June 2029<\/a>, according to a project page from the North Central Texas Council of Governments.<\/p>\n