Texas Transit Association

Tarrant County elected and business leaders are banding together to tackle transportation needs and lobby for state and national transportation funds.

The Tarrant Regional Transportation Coalition, modeled after similar alliances in Dallas and Harris counties, is in its infancy. But organizers expect it to become a strong advocate for transportation improvements and funding in Tarrant County.

Planners getting transportation coalition on the road
By MARICE RICHTER / The Dallas Morning News Thursday, December 11, 2003

“Our message is that we are one of the fastest-growing counties in the state, and we have some major transportation needs that are going unmet,” said Gary Fickes, a former Southlake mayor and organizer of the new group.

“We will take that message anywhere we need to go – Washington, D.C., Austin or Arlington,” Mr. Fickes said. Arlington is home base for the Regional Transportation Council, which determines transportation priorities and distributes funds for transportation projects in north central Texas.

The coalition is expected to involve representatives for all Tarrant County cities, including Fort Worth and Arlington.

The group attempted to form about a year ago but stalled after former Fort Worth Mayor Kenneth Barr – a coalition proponent – decided not to seek re-election, Mr. Fickes said.

But as Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief and Arlington Mayor Bob Cluck have settled into their new leadership roles, momentum is building to organize the coalition, said Mr. Fickes, chairman of the transportation committee of the Metroport Cities Partnership, a northeast Tarrant County coalition that lobbies for transportation funding.

The Tarrant County coalition will be similar to the 16-year-old Metroport group, which comprises civic and business leaders in Grapevine, Colleyville, Southlake, Keller, Westlake, Haslet, Roanoke and Trophy Club.

“Metroport was very successful in securing the funding for the State Highway 114 improvements,” Mr. Fickes said. “While these improvements are very important to northeast Tarrant County, the fact is that traffic gets bogged down getting into Fort Worth or Arlington.

“We have to be concerned about the whole region and how the roads and highways connect with one another,” Mr. Fickes said.

Coalition organizers include Grapevine Mayor William D. Tate, Tarrant County Commissioner Glen Whitley and state Sen. Kim Brimer, R-Fort Worth.

“I think this is something we really need to do,” Mr. Tate said. “It is critical for Tarrant County to get involved in the decision-making process for highway funds as well as for mass transit.”

Key highway funding projects that the coalition is targeting include State Highway 183 in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford area and the Southwest Freeway, from downtown Fort Worth to Johnson County. The massive interchange project in the Grapevine and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport area known as “the funnel” also will be targeted, officials said.

Construction funds were dedicated to build the funnel project, estimated at more than $500 million, but no money has been designated for the project’s engineering and design work, Mr. Fickes said.

That part of the project is estimated to cost $40 million, and lack of funding is holding up its progress, he said.