Tunnel to Fort Worth transit station to aid in high-speed rail plans, downtown development

October 30,2024

See full Fort Worth Report article by Eric E. Garcia here.

Plans to make a downtown Fort Worth transit station the site for a proposed high-speed rail route to Arlington and downtown Dallas are moving forward with a planned tunnel connection.

The Fort Worth Central Station, 1001 Jones St., will be included in development plans recently approved by the City Council’s Local Development Corp. for the southeast portion of downtown. Engineering consulting firm AECOM is developing a comprehensive plan for the 13.3 million-square-foot area situated east of the Fort Worth Convention Center, west of Central Station and north of the Texas A&M-Fort Worth campus currently under construction.

The development would include new towers for a possible 1,000-room hotel, 600 residential units, 300,000 square feet of office space, 55,000 square feet of retail space and green spaces. About 3,800 parking spaces are also planned.

A tunnel to connect the development to Central Station is planned as part of a mobility hub that would include electric vehicle charging stations.

A future tunnel is planned to run under Jones Street to the Fort Worth Central Station as part of a downtown redevelopment effort. The tunnel would connect to a proposed underground high-speed rail station planned under the station. (Courtesy image | AECOM)

Central Station is also connected to other transit services, including Amtrak passenger trains and Greyhound buses.

The closed Butler Place public housing complex, surrounded by freeways near downtown, was one of the preferred sites for a high-speed rail station, but has been ruled out, said Brian Wilson, a spokesperson for the North Central Texas Council of Governments.The council of governments includes the Regional Transportation Council, a 45-member group of elected officials who make decisions on transit and mobility projects.

“Early into our study, Butler Place was an option for the Fort Worth station,” Wilson said. “As the screening process progressed and stakeholder input, including the city of Fort Worth, was incorporated, the Fort Worth Central Station location stood out as the optimal location above other alternatives, including the Butler Place.”

Kelly Porter, assistant director of Fort Worth’s transportation and public works department, said the tunnel project helps make Central Station the top choice for high-speed rail.

“A tunnel under Jones Street is the preferred alternative that is being evaluated” under the council of governments’ current scope, he said.

The $6 billion high-speed rail route connecting Fort Worth and Arlington with downtown Dallas would tie in with a separate 240-mile project to connect Dallas with Houston. That project, a partnership between Amtrak and Texas Central, recently received a $64 million grant but is expected to cost about $30 billion.

Portions of the Fort Worth to Dallas route along Interstate 30 would be underground as current plans call for tunnels at stations in downtown Fort Worth and Arlington’s entertainment district, where sporting facilities, hotels and the Six Flags Over Texas theme park are located.

Meanwhile, the Dallas City Council on Oct. 23 approved a nearly $567,000 contract with the Boston Consultant Group to study the economic impact of the proposed high-speed line to Houston.

Dallas officials also approved a resolution in the summer that calls for a high-speed rail route to bypass downtown Dallas in favor of an elevated multilevel station located in the Cedars neighborhood rather than the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, which is undertaking a $3 billion expansion.

The Regional Transportation Council plans to advocate for the establishment of a high-speed rail authority in Texas as part of its 2025 legislative agenda. Regional leaders say that as the North Texas population booms, dedicated funding is needed to ensure the longevity of transportation projects aimed at increasing mobility and reducing congestion in the state’s major metropolitan areas.

Among the proposals is whether to amend the local sales tax to exempt the portion used for transit.

Jeff Davis, chairman of Trinity Metro’s board of directors, has urged regional leaders to consider that more transit options and denser housing are needed in North Texas as population estimates show the area is expected to boom to 15 million residents within 25 years.

“Without transit, your community will be worse off,” Davis said.

The Fort Worth to Dallas high-speed rail route — which could carry as many as 30,000 daily passengers — is currently four years into a lengthy engineering and environmental review process related to the National Environmental Policy Act. The council of governments is working with the Federal Transit Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration and other state and federal agencies on the proposal. The review process could be complete by March 2025, but the council of governments has been granted some flexibility for those requirements.

Senior editor/Documenters Scott Nishimura contributed reporting.

Eric E. Garcia is a senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org.

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This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.