By Ben Posey
A revamped highway system from West Loop 820 to Linkcrest Drive was discussed Tuesday night at a meeting hosted by the Chapel Creek Neighborhood Association. While some attendees at the meeting expected more detail on the widening of Chapel Creek Boulevard as well as expansion of the bridge over Interstate 30, representatives from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) as well as Fort Worth City Councilman Zim Zimmerman discussed more of the expansion of the highway and frontage roads themselves.
The Chapel Creek Bridge construction program is expected to begin in November of this year while future plans for expansion of I-30 are slated to begin sometime in 2018 contingent on funding.
A detailed presentation presented to more than 150 attendees at Redeemer Church showed that the I-30 corridor just west of Loop 820 was one of the few areas left in the North Texas area that has a bottle neck in traffic because of a funneling of automobile lanes from 3 wide to 2 wide in the area. Projections showed that a population growth of approximately 50% is expected in the area from Loop 820 to Weatherford by the year 2040. The development of the Walsh Ranch (expected opening of models in March of 2017) as well as the Morningstar Development (expected models opening later in 2016) and future developments of the Beggs Ranch and Dean Ranch have led to this population explosion. Representatives said the I-30 corridor starting at Loop 820 will be widened to three highway traffic lanes in each direction. They also said this construction will include the development of continuous, one way, service roads in each direction. Currently, service roads are non-continuous with travelers having to get on and off the freeway.
“I’ve seen traffic on I-30 near Aledo backed up over an hour and half due to an accident,” said Councilman Zim Zimmerman. “There was no where for the cars to go because the frontage roads didn’t continue.”
A revamping of roads is expected near the Spur 580/I-30 intersection that would provide for a safer corridor. In this plan, Spur 580 would no longer have a westbound left entry onto I-30 and would pass under a newly constructed bridge and through a traffic signal before entering westbound I-30. Other additions would be Texas U-turns at the newly constructed bridge over the Spur 580 intersection as well as the Linkcrest underpass. Roads along the entrance to the Lost Creek subdivision would also be relocated and revamped for safer travel.
A preliminary draft can be viewed at http://www.grizzlydetail.com.
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