The board of The T (Fort Worth Transportation Authority) unanimously approved a new site for the agency’s TEX Rail commuter rail station at a special board meeting.
The T plans to change the site for the Medical District Station from 12th Avenue and Rosedale to Mistletoe Boulevard where the station will be within walking distance for more area residents and for employees and users of nearby medical facilities.
The Medical District is among 14 stations that are part of the 37-mile TEX Rail passenger line that will travel from southwest Fort Worth, through downtown Fort Worth, on to Grapevine and into the north end of DFW Airport with a target to open in late 2016.
“As one of Fort Worth’s largest employment generators, the Medical District is projected to be one of TEX Rail’s busiest destination stations,” said The T’s President Dick Ruddell.
“In addition to better passenger access at the Mistletoe Boulevard site, other significant factors have emerged that make it a better commuter rail station site than the 12th Street option,” said Ruddell.
It is not uncommon with a commuter rail project for new information or factors to emerge during the Preliminary Engineering phase that result in the re-evaluation of station sites. The new Mistletoe Avenue site addresses the issues that had emerged at the 12th Street site since it was submitted along with 13 other stations as part of The T’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement in 2008.
The new Medical District station location will be incorporated into the environmental documentation that will be submitted to the Federal Transit Administration. Public meetings will take place on the environmental document before it is finalized. The Final Environmental Impact Statement is expected to be submitted by early next year.
