Construction is expected to begin in early 2023, according to a presentation made by Andy Taft, president of . to the on Nov. 2.
Funding will come from the Lancaster TIF, and project partners include Downtown Fort Worth, Inc., , the city of , , , the and .
The improvements will allow for better connectivity between the passenger platform and Lancaster Avenue. This includes a newly designed plaza in front of the building as well as signage to indicate the station鈥檚 entrance, improving visibility and accessibility.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to build a very elegant pathway from Lancaster Avenue to the front door of the terminal and make it very obvious to people who are looking to catch the train or who are coming from the train into downtown what their path of travel should be,鈥� Taft said. 鈥淲e also want to create a very strong arrival moment.鈥�
Melissa Konur, planning director at Downtown Fort Worth Inc., said creating 鈥渁 sense of arrival and a gateway moment is really critical.鈥�
鈥淲ithout these improvements, it is very difficult to navigate through in either direction, either through a sea of parking or through the space because of the nature of the space and what the lay of the land is between Lancaster and the actual T&P building and station,鈥� she said.
The archways inside the station tunnel leading up to the platform will be closed and filled with photos and stories of the people who built the rails and visited the station, similar to an exhibit, Taft said.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 interesting about that piece is that those stories can change as people supply photos and stories of their friends and relatives. We鈥檒l be able to digitize those images and change them out over time so those can be a revolving storytelling opportunity,鈥� Taft said.
The goal of this exhibition is to highlight the history of the station and the role it played in Fort Worth over the years, Konur said.
鈥淪torytelling is a really important part to establishing the area as more than just a train station, but a place that really impacted people鈥檚 lives and Fort Worth, in terms of arrival and departures and jobs and upward mobility and all of that,鈥� Konur said.
will be responsible for maintaining these new elements.
Trinity Metro is also looking for someone to operate the lobby inside the station 鈥� either as a restaurant or an inviting waiting area 鈥� although discussions are still in their infancy, said Chad Edwards, vice president of planning and development at Trinity Metro.
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to try to figure out how we can activate that space so that we can open up the doors that are there, that people have a much easier path to get from Lancaster through those doors into the station and onto the train,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut we can鈥檛 do that just yet until we have more activity and more purpose for that particular area.鈥�
The upgrades to the station are the latest in a series of projects along West Lancaster Avenue to redevelop the south-end corridor of downtown. This includes the , the , the and the anticipated .
鈥淭he fact that we will have this in place well before the convention center is expanded and the Omni expands and Texas A&M expands will mean people are going to be used to us and will understand that the train station is a part of the downtown community well in advance of all of these new people coming to downtown Fort Worth,鈥� Taft said.
A was opened in 2019, followed by two public input meetings in 2021. The station was built in 1931 and is considered architecture in Fort Worth. The main waiting room of the station was renovated in 1999.
Sandra Sadek is a Report for America corps member, covering growth for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at sandra.sadek@fortworthreport.org or follow her on Twitter at . At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy .