Texas Transit Association

Hood County lies to the southwest of the Fort-Worth and Dallas metroplex.

Rail answer to traffic woes?
by STAN WEINBERG, Hood County News August 20, 2003

“The road between Granbury and the DFW area can become a parking lot over the next 35 years,” says Granbury mayor David Southern. The mayor was referring to the projected increase in the number of people—from about 4.5 million now to about 9 million in 2040–who will live in the 16- county area known as the Metroplex, which includes Hood County.
In addition, over the next 10 years, experts say, the county could see the number of people commuting from here to the DFW area go from about 53 percent to nearly 80 percent.
This means U.S. 377 could be in consistent gridlock during rush hours, says the mayor.
“Today, the DFW area and Hood County are having problems with traffic and pollution, even before we reach those figures,” says Southern.
To help solve some of these problems, he strongly supports a commuter rail system for Hood County that would connect to other systems in the area.

“That’s one reason the city purchased the Bond Feed property. We hope it can be the site for a future commuter rail station,” he says.
He says the county alone or working with other counties needs to form a regional mobility authority to handle future transportation needs.
The authority could look at establishing rail systems, building toll roads or using any other methods to relieve traffic congestion and pollution, he said

Southern says Denton, Fort Worth, Cleburne, Grapevine, Waxahachie and Frisco are already planning for a regional transportation authority, which will include a commuter rail system.
The mayor learned about the traffic and pollution problems facing the area when he recently attended the Texas 2003 Transportation Summit at Fort Worth.
“The ozone problem has spread as far as Cresson and on some days Granbury can feel its effects,” says Southern.
Testing sites have been set up around the Metroplex and under EPA rules (Environmental Protection Agency) many cites don’t meet the standards for clean air. The mayor says Johnson and Parker counties fall into that category known as “non-attainment.”
Southern states the federal government is already looking at cutting off highway funds to such cities as Los Angeles and Houston because of traffic congestion and high air pollution.
Southern thinks the Metroplex may not be far off from such restrictions if something isn’t done.
He also believes Hood County may be close to having more stringent auto inspections like those operating in some Metroplex counties.
“The feds will solve the problem of high pollution counts by demanding that cities or regions implement public transportation—specifically a commuter rail system.
“There won’t be enough money to keep on building more highways and if there was, it would only add to the problem of pollution,” states the mayor.
“Nationwide, $64 billion were spent last year on our roads. It would have taken $92 billion just to stay even and $107 billion to make improvements,” says Southern.