Citizens Can Comment on Proposed Tollway at Forums

City Moves Forward with SH-121T Parkway Toll Road Initiative

Jan 22, 2003

The process of determining the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) for SH-121T, better known as the Southwest Parkway, continues as the City of Fort Worth works towards addressing the critical alignment and design elements that respond best to traffic, mobility, safety, operational, neighborhood access, preservation and aesthetic enhancement considerations. Determining the City's LPA is being undertaken as part of the environmental clearance process, which the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) are conducting in conjunction with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).

On January 10, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the project became available for public review and comment. Prepared as part of the environmental clearance process, the DEIS is available at the Texas Department of Transportation's Fort Worth District Office, 2501 SW Loop, and at the City of Fort Worth's Central and branch libraries. It can also be viewed online at www.SH-121T.org.

Publication of the DEIS allows TxDOT to conduct a formal public hearing on the DEIS, which is scheduled for February 25, 2003, at the Will Rogers Memorial Center, the Roundup Inn Room in the Amon G. Carter, Jr. Exhibits Hall, 3400 Burnett Tandy Drive. The doors will open at 6:30 p.m., and the formal hearing will start at 7:00 p.m. There will be an opportunity to provide verbal and/or written comments at the TxDOT public hearing. Written comments on the DEIS may also be sent Maribel Chavez, P.E., District Engineer, Texas Department of Transportation, P.O. Box 6868, Fort Worth, Texas 76115. Written comments must be postmarked by March 7, 2003.

Before the February 25 TxDOT Hearing on the DEIS, the City Council will hold a city-sponsored briefing and public hearing on February 11, 2003, at City Hall. Please check the SH-121T website (www.SH-121T.org) for more details about the February 11 briefing/hearing. From the input received at that February 11 city-sponsored briefing/hearing and collected over the past year, the City Council will develop and adopt the City's recommended LPA. Additional input will also be received from the SH-121T Project Development Team and the Citizens' Advisory Committee, which will be reconvened for a briefing before the city-sponsored briefing/hearing.

The public is encouraged to attend both the city-sponsored briefing/hearing on February 11 at City Hall as well as TxDOT's formal public hearing on February 25 at Will Rogers because the two hearings serve different purposes. The city-sponsored briefing/hearing is being held to seek community input on the City's recommended LPA for design of the parkway. The City's recommended LPA will be presented at the TxDOT public hearing February 25; and the LPA will also be used later to negotiate a final funding agreement with the City's partners in the project, NTTA and TxDOT, as well as to facilitate the City's subsequent approval of the final design.The public is encouraged to attend both the city-sponsored briefing/hearing on February 11 at City Hall as well as TxDOT's formal public hearing on February 25 at Will Rogers because the two hearings serve different purposes. The city-sponsored briefing/hearing is being held to seek community input on the City's recommended LPA for design of the parkway. The City's recommended LPA will be presented at the TxDOT public hearing February 25; and the LPA will also be used later to negotiate a final funding agreement with the City's partners in the project, NTTA and TxDOT, as well as to facilitate the City's subsequent approval of the final design.

Although comments received during the city-sponsored briefing/hearing on February 11 will be considered by the City Council in developing the City's recommended LPA, comments received during the city-sponsored briefing/public hearing on February 11 will not be placed into TxDOT's formal hearing record on the DEIS. Only comments received at the TxDOT public hearing February 25 or mailed to TxDOT by the deadline will be considered as part of the hearing record for the DEIS because federal law mandates that the TxDOT Public Hearing being held specifically to receive comments on the DEIS and related environmental issues.

After the TxDOT public hearing, a final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) will be prepared and sent to the Federal Highway Administration for a Record of Decision, which would give environmental clearance for the project to proceed with a given preferred alternative. Once a Record of Decision for environmental clearance is issued, final design and right-of-way acquisition can commence.

Originally conceived as the Southwest Freeway in the early 1960s, the SH-121 project was redesigned as a toll road in the mid-1990s. The proposed 15.1-mile facility is being planned as an 8.4 mile controlled access tollway between downtown and the Dirks Road/Altamesa Boulevard intersection in southwest Fort Worth; South of Dirks Road/Altamesa Boulevard intersection, the facility will continue south to Cleburne as a controlled access facility that could also be developed someday as a tollway.

For more information, visit www.SH-121T.org or call the SH-121T hotline at 817-371-3958.