City Adopts
Design for SH-121 Toll Road
March 5, 2003
Fort Worth City Council officially adopted a design - called a locally preferred alternative - for the proposed State Highway 121 Toll Road, also known as the Southwest Parkway, that features many of elements that neighboring residents and interested citizens have suggested over the last weeks and years.
The unanimous council vote for the locally preferred alternative resolution and a resolution on the draft statement about the environmental impact of the proposed tollway will be presented to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) as part of the state and federal approval process.
Bad weather forced TxDOT to postpone the Feb. 25 public hearing on the draft environmental impact statement until April 22, 2003. The city’s adopted resolutions will be presented at the rescheduled hearing.
To view the DEIS online, visit the TxDOT SH-121T project web page:
The city resolution also states the City will create a citizens' advisory group to monitor the design and construction of the roadway to ensure that it conforms to the designs that the community wants.
The parkway's cost will exceed $300 million, engineers estimate. It will be an 8.4-mile toll road between downtown and Southwest Fort Worth. The city will work with its project partners, TxDOT and the North Texas Tollway Authority, to negotiate cost sharing initiatives for the project.
Following the TxDOT public hearing on the draft environmental impact statement, it is anticipated that the Federal Highway Administration will release a final environmental impact statement during the summer of 2003. With the approval of the impact statement, a Record of Decision is expected during the fall of 2003.