Despite delays, Panther Island officials say project still on track for 2032 completion
January 7,2025
See full Fort Worth Report article by Nicole Lopez here.
The $1.16 billion Central City federal flood control project, known in Fort Worth as Panther Island, is still slated for completion by 2032 amid delays in rerouting the Trinity River into manmade channels.
In order to move forward with construction for the flood management portion of the project, construction crews must relocate or remove storm drains, sewers, water utilities and public and private infrastructure from the intended path of the north bypass channel. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is tasked with constructing both a north and a south bypass channel to reroute floodwaters from the Trinity River into downtown Fort Worth’s floodwater storage.
Upon completion, the channel will create a manmade island dubbed Panther Island, opening up hundreds of acres near the existing levee system for development.
Storm drain relocation and construction off North Main Street were slated to be completed in July 2025, a year after it began. The project received a delayed notice to proceed with relocating the north channel’s utilities due to complications with a tunnel underneath an existing levee, said Clair Davis, who oversees the city of Fort Worth’s work on the project as FWLab senior capital project officer. Contractors must submit proper documentation to the Corps of Engineers, which in turn grants permission to companies before they can begin moving utilities.
The Corps of Engineers was able to minimize those delays by planning out the sequencing of construction, which calls for the installation of a sluice gate — a moveable gate that allows water to flow under it — and tunneling for the water to flow through. The tunneling must be completed before other components can be implemented, according to Davis.
Now, that project is anticipated for completion by August 2025, Davis said during a Dec. 3 Trinity River Vision Authority board meeting. The board, made up of city, county and Tarrant Regional Water District leaders, is tasked with overseeing the Central City flood control project.
“We’re continuing to push our contractor to find efficiencies wherever they can and complete the project as early as possible. The corps is working with us to keep their contract on schedule and on track,” said Davis.
Fort Worth officials say delays, if any, are brought on by ensuring construction and contractors meet federal requirements.
“The city is always conscious of trying to establish realistic schedules that account for some potential delays while completing the job as soon as possible,” Davis, Assistant City Manager Dana Burghdoff and Tarrant Regional Water District spokesperson Matt Oliver said in a statement.
The delay on the utility relocations on North Main Street is not affecting the Corps of Engineers’ overall goal to finish construction of the channels by 2032, said corps spokesperson Clayton Church.
There are no anticipated changes in timelines or completion for other smaller-scale projects, Davis, Burghdoff and Oliver said.
The Corps of Engineers is regularly meeting with Fort Worth officials, the Texas Department of Transportation and other stakeholders to assess the impact stemming from delays has no long-term effect on the project, according to Church.
Fort Worth officials, the water district and the Corps of Engineers planned ahead to ensure smaller-scale projects would not affect the course of the overall schedule, said Oliver.
While clearing the north channel is the city’s current focus on the project, conversations regarding the south channel are already underway, according to Oliver.
The city anticipates 60% of a design plan for the south channel to be submitted by February 2025, Kate Beck, the water district’s Central City program director, said at the Dec. 3 meeting. Construction on the south channel is contingent on additional federal funding in order for ground to break, according to Beck.
U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, championed the flood control portion of the project, earning approval from the Corps of Engineers and, eventually, hundreds of millions in federal funds for Central City. Panther Island was drawn out of her district in 2021, leaving U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, to advocate for $403 million in funds in 2022.
Before retiring in January, Granger requested $160 million in federal funds in the 2025 appropriations bill to finish the Corps of Engineers’ construction of the flood control project. Veasey recently told the Report it is unclear if those funds will carry over into Congress under the administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
The project struggled to receive federal funding under the Trump administration following a rise in costs and yearslong delays, but gained favor with help from the Biden administration’s 2021 infrastructure law.
Construction on the north channel will begin in late summer 2025, Beck added.
City officials originally sought to finish relocating utilities out of the north bypass channel by summer 2024 and the south channel by fall 2024.
City officials said last August they were not on track to meet those deadlines, but expect to complete relocation before the Corps of Engineers anticipates to begin its own construction in 2025.
As for the closing of University Drive, work to elevate the road will run concurrent with a floodwater storage project under Rockwood Park Drive. Construction crews are responsible for closing University Drive between Jacksboro Highway and Rockwood Park Drive, elevating it by 15 feet to raise the road out of the flood plain and create more room for floodwaters.
Construction of the storage is slated to begin in 2028, according to Beck.
With the University Drive closure originally slated to begin by mid-2026, the road’s elevation and the Rockwood Park Valley storage construction will have to take place simultaneously to better manage the flow of floodwaters, said Beck.
Nicole Lopez is the environmental reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at nicole.lopez@fortworthreport.org.
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Location Mentioned: Panther Island Pavilion