TRINITY UPTOWN

Trinity Uptown™ is a bold new plan for waterfront development. It aims to revitalize an 800-acre area north of downtown Fort Worth with a combination of public improvements and private development. Its goal is to provide a vibrant, stimulating environment in which families can live, work, shop, play, and learn.

That combination of public improvements and private development is key to understanding this project. Let's look at each one.

The public improvements - sometimes referred to as the "Central City Project" - include flood protection and related infrastructure. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has identified this area as "at risk" due to an aging levee system that was designed for a population of the 1960s. Technology has changed substantially since the levees were erected in the 1940s and bypass channels are now the preferred method of urban flood control. Constructing a bypass channel parallel to the Fort Worth & Western Railroad will allow the inadequate levees to come down, providing modern, efficient flood protection for the area, and making the river accessible for recreation. Improved roads and bridges will provide access to the area; upgraded utilities will improve the existing infrastructure; ecosystem enhancement will restore balance after decades of industrial use.

Private development of the area will be possible once flood protection is in place and levees are removed to open up the land. The area will enable up to 10,000 new homes to be constructed in the area, providing a solution to the demand for high-density urban housing. Fort Worth is the fastest-growing large city in the United States. Its population is expected to increase by more than 50% in the next 20 years, and Trinity Uptown will provide a cost-efficient and viable alternative to annexation and urban sprawl.

Trinity Uptown offers a unique opportunity to integrate mixed-income housing into Fort Worth's central city. Focusing on residential development in the Trinity Uptown area will complement and reinforce the already successful adjoining neighborhoods without diluting their respective strengths.

The flood control project is the catalyst for Trinity Uptown. Because of it, an exciting new addition to the waterfront will be a mile-and-a-half-long bypass channel running parallel to the Fort Worth & Western Railroad tracks and connecting the river west of North Main to south of White Settlement. It will be accompanied by numerous trails and open space. The new bypass channel and its related dam and isolation gates will allow the existing river to function as a calm, constant-level body of water that can be enjoyed year-round. The other tremendous addition is a small urban lake at the confluence of the Clear and West forks that will support a variety of boating and water activities.

Other project components include appropriate bridges and new or improved roads. This includes building bridges that go over railroad tracks to separate dangerous grade crossings, and extending White Settlement Road all the way into the central city, adding much-needed new access in that area. Valley storage mitigation sites, ecosystem improvements, and enhanced river accessibility through trails and pedestrian bridges will also be a part of this project.

The end result will provide infrastructure necessary for private development. As the "fastest-growing large city" (as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau), Fort Worth needs this development to support its rapidly growing population while still maintaining its "most livable city" designation.

Trinity Uptown promises to become a richly diverse urban neighborhood linking downtown to the Stockyards and Cultural District. The area is bound on the north by Northside Drive and the Oakwood Cemetery property, to the west by the Fort Worth & Western Railroad and Henderson Street corridors, to the east by Samuels Avenue and to the south by Belknap Street.

"The project has a strong shot at becoming one of those rare grand-slam home runs that benefits Fort Worth for many decades." Jack Z. Smith, Star-Telegram

"This project will take Fort Worth to a new level and the opportunities that will be presented for growth and development will touch all communities." Rosa Navejar, Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

"The Trinity confluence is the catalyst that gave birth to Fort Worth. It is unusual for any city to have an opportunity to recast its identity in such a dramatic way." Bing Thom, Bing Thom Architects

"This is a project of great vision and initiative. It will pay dividends to the City of Fort Worth far beyond the cost of the tax payer's investment and will create a special international sense of place for the region." John S. Baen, PhD, Real Estate Professor, University of North Texas

"This plan, at once wide-ranging, comprehensive in scope and finely detailed, is an exemplary piece of design emphasizing several elements of urban redevelopment — environmental restoration, transportation planning, parks and school facilities — that reflect both the complexity of and responsiveness to urban waterfront opportunities." Waterfront Center Awards of Excellence Program

"The bold Trinity River project is a chance to reshape the city and elevate our quality of life...it will be a turning point akin to building DFW Airport or creating Sundance Square, it's that big." Mitchell Schnurman, Star-Telegram

"Trinity Uptown is an incredible opportunity to reclaim the river as an urban redevelopment focal point." James Toal, Urban Planner

"Think of this as the ultimate anti-highway improvement, a piece of infrastructure that will bring tens of thousands of people to the inner city and spawn hundreds of millions of dollars in investment." Mitchell Schnurman, Star-Telegram

"It could trigger a wave of highly attractive residential, retail, office and recreational development in what is now a generally bedraggled and underused 800-acre area on the near north side of Fort Worth. That metamorphosis could significantly expand the city's tax base and virtually double the size of downtown within a few decades." Jack Z. Smith, Star-Telegram

"This is city redevelopment at its finest. It's the kind of thing that makes Fort Worth rank among the highest in the nation for quality of life. The great cooperative partnership with all local governments also distinguishes Fort Worth and Tarrant County from most other areas of the country." Mike Moncrief, Fort Worth Mayor

"We look forward to assuring that the development incorporates and celebrates the great diversity of Fort Worth's culture, including provisions to assure affordable housing. It will provide the linkage between downtown and the near north side neighborhoods and the historic Stockyards. And it will really help create economic opportunities for all neighborhoods and families, not just those in the area, but citywide." Sal Espino, City Councilman, District #2

"This development will be a tremendous addition to Fort Worth, especially when you recognize the enormous trend for people to move back downtown. We're fortunate to have 800 acres in our inner city to develop for self-sustaining, mixed-use and mixed-income neighborhoods." Charles Boswell, Fort Worth City Manager

"Everyone in the county benefits. Our historic Courthouse will be centered between Downtown and Uptown, as it should be; and our Fort Worth culture and character will be enhanced and continued." Glen Whitley, Tarrant County Commissioner

"The Trinity River Vision was a key factor that influenced our final decision to redevelop the Montgomery Wards Building into Montgomery Plaza shopping center consisting of 500,000 square feet of retail space, anchored by SuperTarget, to serve the central city of Fort Worth. The kind of vision and leadership behind Trinity Uptown is what makes people want to invest in Fort Worth." John P. Weber, president, Weber & Co.

"This project will utilize the latest and greatest in engineering design to create a safe, vibrant and livable city. Gone are the days where the Corps simply raises levees for flood control. Today it's all about involving the community and making sure flood-control measures enhance the community. Central City and the larger Trinity Uptown Project will help set the standard for the rest of the nation for similar projects." Saji Puthenpurayel, U.S.Army Corps of Engineers.

"The new development is expected to increase Fort Worth's tax base by over a billion dollars. That increase helps Fort Worth absorb the rising infrastructure costs associated with our expected population growth. To that end, Trinity Uptown is good for our local economy," Bill Thornton, president, Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.

How is this project possible?

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) and the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) have been partnering to address water resource needs associated with the Trinity River for more than fifty years. After severe flooding in the late 1940s, Congress appropriated funding for the Fort Worth Floodway program, allowing the Corps to construct a flood protection system on the Trinity River in Fort Worth. TRWD is the local sponsor for the Fort Worth Floodway, responsible for operation and maintenance of 30 miles of river and trail system.

In the mid-1980s, the Corps, in cooperation with regional sponsors including TRWD, began a series of Trinity River planning and floodplain management initiatives for the entire Trinity River Watershed Basin, which ultimately led to the Trinity Uptown recommendations.

The necessary public improvements are a product of these early floodplain management initiatives. The Corps' flood protection objectives are integrated with the local community objectives published in the Trinity River Vision™ Master Plan. Building on the recommendations reported in the Trinity River Vision Master Plan, and the community's desire to "connect" to the water, the Trinity Uptown project has been designed to provide flood protection in a more "community friendly" way.

Benefits of the Project

The primary benefits of the Trinity Uptown project include flood protection, urban revitalization, ecosystem/environmental improvements, and recreation. The project will incorporate these objectives into the construction of the public infrastructure components.

On December 8, 2004, Congress authorized $110 million for the project "as generally described in the Trinity River Master Plan dated April 2003..." under Public Law 108-447, Section 116. It was one of only seven projects that received this type of authorization in the country. In 2005, $7 million was actually appropriated — the full amount requested — which was a signal of positive federal support in the wake of Katrina’s tragedy.

The $435 million project is funded as a partnership among the federal government and a number of local sponsors including the Tarrant Regional Water District, the City of Fort Worth, and Tarrant County. Its success comes from what some might consider unprecedented cooperation by local partners. It is envisioned that each funding partner will provide support by administering the management and services that fall under their respective authority. The Tarrant Regional Water District is currently providing project and technical management of the preliminary engineering on the bypass channel and related river improvement features of the project. As the project evolves, other local partners will take the lead on different aspects of the project. For instance, the road and bridge improvement efforts will be led by the City of Fort Worth. Ongoing public meetings and community group briefings are being held to solicit public input throughout the planning process.

The Trinity Uptown Plan™ was published in 2004. It is a result of numerous design workshops and the teamwork of planning, urban design, and economic development consultants Gideon Toal Architects of Fort Worth, Texas, and Bing Thom Architects of Vancouver, British Columbia.