For parents in the 6,000-person city of Everman, school pick-up on Forest Hill Drive has become a “nightmare,” with people spending up to 45 minutes stuck in traffic, said Mayor Ray Richardson.

Roger E. Souder Elementary and Uplift Ascend Preparatory sit a tenth of a mile apart on the road, which narrows to one lane in each direction just north of the schools at Lon Stephenson Road.

“With all schools reporting at the same time and dismissing at the same time, it’s created a lot of congestion for us,” said Richardson.

A plan to widen the road and improve drainage should bring relief.

The North Central Texas Council of Governments will spend $3 million to study, survey and develop plans for a two-mile segment of Forest Hill Drive between Shelby Road and LonStephenson Road, which passes through Fort Worth, Forest Hill and Everman. In addition to the schools, the two-mile stretch includes a post office, a church, two gas stations, a doughnut shop, a tool manufacturer and a feed store.

The council of governments is an association of local governments established to assist in regional planning. It has already begun collecting information about the area through site visits, measurements, traffic counts and meetings with leaders. It is also seeking ideas from people who would be affected by changes to the roadway. It is hosting a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Forest Hill Convention Center, 6901 Wichita St.

“This section down to Shelby Road has quite a bit of development and anticipated development and so they were seeing a need to make it less of a rural road,” said Jody Loza, a project manager at the council of governments.

The project will eventually widen the road to two lanes in each direction with a turning lane, shared use path on the west side of the street and a sidewalk on the east. Upgrading the road’s stormwater infrastructure will also be part of the project.

The yearlong roadway study coincides with a long-awaited flood study that’s being conducted by Tarrant County and the city of Fort Worth. It’s expected to be completed by early 2024.

The city is prone to flooding because of increased development around Everman, the city’s lack of stormwater infrastructure and nearby Chambers Creek.

Just last month, the City Council approved a zoning change that will allow for 357 homes to be built at 10181 Forest Hill Everman Road, less than three miles from Souder Elementary.

The city’s worst flood in recent history sent waters surging up to six feet in 2018. About 70 homes and 20 businesses were damaged.

The stretch of Forest Hill Drive that the study will assess includes the intersection of Chambers Creek at Forest Hill Drive, which is considered a Special Flood Hazard Area by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“If you look at the Fort Worth section, their stormwater system it’s all concreted in. It’s real nice. It’s large and holds a lot of water. And it feeds into these little bitty creeks that run through our city,” said Richardson.

Everman resident Jerry Mims, whose home backs up to Chambers Creek, is doubtful the project will help his small city.

“That’s all Fort Worth,” Mims said about the project. “They’re doing it to improve Fort Worth. I hate to say it but that’s what I think.”

He’d like to see changes along Shelby Road and Wichita Street as well. Children who attend Everman schools often walk to school. When the weather is bad, they walk on the streets.

Mims suggested sidewalks to improve safety for schoolchildren.

“We don’t need to improve just where Fort Worth is. We need to improve where Everman is also,” he said.

This story was originally published September 6, 2023, 6:00 AM.