Why Fort Worth Needs Its Streetcar

Will Fort Worth move forward on the streetcar? (Photo illustration: Fort Worthology)

We heard yesterday from Streetsblog Network member Kevin Buchanan of Fort Worthology about a threat to the planned streetcar project in Fort Worth, Texas. It seems like the City Council is dragging its feet in going forward with the design process, and might seek to redirect funds that have been allocated for a design study.

Buchanan writes that Fort Worth is endangering its future viability by jeopardizing the streetcar:

Cities like Dallas, and Portland, and Seattle, and Charlotte, and more…are more fully serving their citizens by creating real transportation choice. If Fort Worth continues to drop the ball on projects like the streetcar, we will lose out. These cities are competing with us for the jobs and vitality of the future, and we know that ever-increasing numbers of young creatives and professionals no longer wish to have the same suburban/car-dominated life that their parents and grandparents had. They want real choice, in living arrangement and transportation (and make no mistake, these two things are deeply linked — effective transit helps build effective mixed-use living arrangements, and vice versa). They will go where they can get these things, and if they can’t get them here, we’ll fall behind.

More from around the network: Decatur Metro reports that the mayor of that Georgia city is calling for more attention to be paid to urban areas. The City Fix on a report that shows a shift in U.S. construction patterns that favors cities. And Greater Greater Washington lays out the arguments for a congestion charge for the D.C. area.