Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Streetsblog.net

Why Fort Worth Needs Its Streetcar

10:03 AM EDT on March 30, 2010

3949970566_5164559b6e_o.jpgWill Fort Worth move forward on the streetcar? (Photo illustration: Fort Worthology)

We heard yesterday from Streetsblog Network member Kevin Buchanan of Fort Worthology about a threat to the planned streetcar project in Fort Worth, Texas. It seems like the City Council is dragging its feet in going forward with the design process, and might seek to redirect funds that have been allocated for a design study.

Buchanan writes that Fort Worth is endangering its future viability by jeopardizing the streetcar:

Cities like Dallas, and Portland, and Seattle, and Charlotte, and more…are more fully serving their citizens by creating real transportation choice. If Fort Worth continues to drop the ball on projects like the streetcar, we will lose out. These cities are competing with us for the jobs and vitality of the future, and we know that ever-increasing numbers of young creatives and professionals no longer wish to have the same suburban/car-dominated life that their parents and grandparents had. They want real choice, in living arrangement and transportation (and make no mistake, these two things are deeply linked -- effective transit helps build effective mixed-use living arrangements, and vice versa). They will go where they can get these things, and if they can’t get them here, we’ll fall behind.

More from around the network: Decatur Metro reports that the mayor of that Georgia city is calling for more attention to be paid to urban areas. The City Fix on a report that shows a shift in U.S. construction patterns that favors cities. And Greater Greater Washington lays out the arguments for a congestion charge for the D.C. area.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

‘Duped’: Blowing the Whistle on an Illegal Temporary License Plate Business

Temporary license plates exist so that people who buy cars can drive them before receiving metal plates. But drivers found another use for them during the pandemic: buy a temp tag on the black market and you can keep your car anonymous and off the books.

June 9, 2023

Another Cyclist Attacked in Oakland

A passing car’s passenger assaulted cyclist David Colburn on Wednesday while he was riding his bike on San Pablo in Oakland. The passenger “…leaned out a window to intentionally smack me in the head.”

June 8, 2023

How Auto-Centric Infrastructure is Making Us Sick

Instead of endless promises to fix America's "crumbling roads and bridges," filmmaker Andy Boenau argues we need to talk about our crumbling minds and bodies — and how our autocentric infrastructure approach contributes to them.

June 8, 2023

Talking Headways Podcast: Undoing Autocentric Design in a Michigan City

A Michigan city tries to undo the mistakes of the past. It's hard.

June 8, 2023
See all posts