During the Jan. 14 council meeting, $26 million in additional funding was approved for 11 transportation project deemed high priority, according to city documents. In addition, the funding for the fiscal years 2025-29 of the Capital Improvement Program was amended.
The specifics
Locally, the roads impacted by the changes include Ray White Road, Park Vista Boulevard and Heritage Trace Parkway.
Funding for the projects will come from Transportation Impact Fee Capital Fund and Transportation Impact Fee Capital Legacy Fund, according to city documents.
“Due to current market conditions, supply chain issues and higher inflation rates, additional funds are needed to cover estimated budget shortfalls for arterial projects,” the city documents stated.
The Ray White Road project will be widened to a four-lane divided road between Mirage Drive and the bridge over Bear Creek, north of Camrose Street. The project received the third-most funding from the capital fund at $2.9 million plus an additional $487,337 from the legacy capital fund.
The new cost for the project, which is supposed to be finished in the summer of 2027, is $29.2 million, according to city documents.
Council member Alan Blaylock will host a preconstruction meeting for the project Jan. 16 at Hillside Community Church at 9915 Ray White Road from 6-7:30 p.m.
Also of note
The Park Vista Boulevard Phase 2 project received more than $690,000 in additional funding from the two funds, according to city documents.
Construction is underway for this project, which expands the road from two lanes to four lanes with a median from Keller Haslet Road to Timberland Boulevard, according to the city website. The cost for the project is now $7.54 million, per city documents.
Diving in deeper
The final local project is Phase 1 of the Heritage Trace Parkway, which includes constructing a new bridge over the BSNF Railway line.
The additional $1.6 million for the project pushes the cost to $9 million, according to city documents.
This section of the BNSF line is utilized by nearly 50 trains a day and also carries Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer. According to city documents, the Heartland Flyer train carries passengers between Fort Worth and Oklahoma City with one daily train in each direction.
The work will connect Heritage Trace to Blue Mound Road between Wagley Robertson Road and Old Decatur Road.