Fort Worth has been designed for cars.

Development has focused on wide lanes and more parking spaces, said Kelly Porter, the city’s assistant director of transportation and public works.

Now, the city wants to give its residents more options.

Fort Worth’s comprehensive plan, which serves as a blueprint for development, made a point of creating walkable, pedestrian friendly neighborhoods.

Developers now must take into consideration building places designed around different kinds of transit and building the right density where people can walk and bike or be connected to transit. The city also tries to make sure that driving is an option, but not the only option, Porter said.

Residents shouldn’t feel like pioneers, Porter joked. City officials want biking and walking to be comfortable options.

“Some of it it’s just a mind shift, and some it’s just tweaking how we’re city building,” Porter said. “And we’re going to have to tie not only our transportation investments to it, but also, you know, how we think about land use and density and choices on where we live and work.”

On West Seventh Street, the retrofit has been under the transportation and management division, but Porter said the goal was to make the area’s streets safer and give multiple modes of travel besides just cars. Efforts are underway to build bike lanes and medians.

Porter said the city is working to improve Camp Bowie as more development moves in. It is also working to redesign University Drive to make it more pedestrian friendly. Porter’s team has worked with TxDOT as it rebuilds Interstate 30 to make sure street crossings are safe for those who chose other modes of transportation.

Trinity Metro plans to extend TEXRail to the hospital district. It may take a turn to the west, Porter said, but the density on West Seventh Street will make transportation more viable. Bus service there is already frequent and the city will work with Trinity Metro to make sure operations remain reliable.

Other areas of focus for walkability are East Berry Street and East Lancaster Avenue. Eventually the city will look into McCart Avenue, Porter said.

A street car service on West Seventh has been discussed in the past, but is not in the works, Porter said.

As the city looks into its streets, Porter said there’s focus on how to make the roads better, safer and connected to other modes of transportation to make sure transit is desirable and competitive with other modes.

“It’s just really the direction that city’s going to ensure that we, you know, are, you know, continue to add value to our citizens and our business owners and that this is still a city that people want to stay in, live in and move to,” Porter said.

This story was originally published September 2, 2022 5:00 AM.