Federal, TxDOT and local leaders celebrated a more than $17 million Federal Railroad Administration grant to construct an overpass at the Bonds Ranch Road and BNSF Railway crossing in north Fort Worth. The project will enhance mobility and safety for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians.
(BNSF Railway photo)
Brandye Hendrickson, TxDOT deputy executive director for planning and administration, joined Federal Railroad Administration officials, the NCTCOG Transportation Department, Fort Worth officials and BNSF Railway leadership recently to celebrate a $17 million FRA grant to construct an overpass at Bonds Ranch Road just west of U.S. 287.
The proposed project will build a four-lane grade separation with a bicycle track and pedestrian pathway over the BNSF Railway Fort Worth Subdivision, creating a safe and reliable connection between the TxDOT U.S. 287 Interchange reconstruction and Fort Worth roadway capacity improvement projects.
The grade separation will eliminate an at-grade highway-rail crossing at the Bonds Ranch Road crossing that is blocked multiple times per day due to high train volume and rail operations in the nearby BNSF Alliance Intermodal Facility and faced with closures due to flooding during heavy rain events.
Bonds Ranch Road is a rural two-lane roadway that serves approximately 17,924 vehicles per day, including significant school bus traffic from seven nearby schools. Bonds Ranch Road is an east-west connector roadway to U.S. 287 (U.S. 81) located in a fast-growing residential area of predominately single-family housing with surrounding industrial land use in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas.
East of the BNSF crossing, TxDOT is reconstructing the U.S. 287 interchange with Bonds Ranch Road. West of crossing, the city of Fort Worth is adding capacity to Bonds Ranch Road to serve the growing population in this corridor. While the Bonds Ranch Road grade separation is a standalone project, it is a major component of a planned, sealed corridor along the BNSF Fort Worth Subdivision from Haslet to Fort Worth to Saginaw.
Project Background
The Haslet–Fort Worth–Saginaw (H-FW-S) corridor in the northwest area of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex experienced unprecedented growth over the last 10 years. Spurred by the Alliance global logistics hub, distribution and logistics sector workforce expansion has created demand for housing and support services resulting in an overtaxed transportation network. The city of Fort Worth and Tarrant County are working together to respond to these demands through transportation network solutions that focus on safety and the mobility of residents, workers, and visitors to the area.
U.S. 287 and the BNSF Fort Worth subdivision create a spine in the center of the H-FW-S corridor. U.S. 287 carries 53,304 vehicles per day, connecting northwest Tarrant County and the western Alliance region to downtown Fort Worth. The BNSF Fort Worth subdivision carries on average 36 trains per day, serving the largest inland intermodal facility supporting commerce in Texas and the entire central US. The line also serves Amtrak's Heartland Flyer with two trains per day between Fort Worth and Oklahoma City.
There are four arterial roadways intersecting the railroad spine: Avondale Haslet Road, Blue Mound Road, Bonds Ranch Road and Bailey Boswell Road. A future connection for Heritage Trace Parkway is under development by the city of Fort Worth. These roadways connect the housing subdivisions, schools, commercial districts and logistics developments to the U.S. 287 spine. But these connections are frequently disrupted at the four existing at-grade highway-rail grade crossings on the BNSF subdivision.
Regional partners, including the BNSF, have developed a plan to address the safety and delay in this corridor.
The Metroplex Freight Mobility Study identified this corridor as a top location in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) region for crossing improvements. All four existing at-grade crossings are identified as locations for grade separations. A grade separation is planned for the new crossing at Heritage Trace.
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