Yesterday, shovels finally hit the dirt in west Fort Worth as crews broke ground on the long-awaited Bomber Spur Trail, formally kicking off work to turn an overgrown World War II rail corridor into a walking and biking route. At North Z Boaz Park, the city hosted a ceremony to mark the start of construction on a roughly one-mile, 12-foot shared-use path that will stretch from Calmont Avenue to just across U.S. 377. City leaders said this first leg is meant to be the visible start of a broader push to stitch the Bomber Spur into Fort Worth’s larger trail network.
The initial segment carries an estimated price tag of about $8 million and will include pedestrian crossings and a new bridge over U.S. 377, according to the City of Fort Worth. Mayor Mattie Parker called the groundbreaking a milestone for the area, saying, “We’re incredibly thankful to break ground.” Partners, residents and aircraft helped set the scene, and the Fort Worth Report noted that Lockheed Martin F-35s roared overhead during the event.
From wartime rail to city trail
The Bomber Spur started life in the 1940s as a supply line serving Air Force Plant 4, a role that eventually faded as the line fell into disuse. Advocates have pushed for years to reclaim that right-of-way as public open space. Streams & Valleys, the nonprofit leading the vision for the corridor, helped shape the trail master plan and led neighborhood outreach. Earlier planning documents and public meetings sketched out trailheads, bridges and landscaping that are intended to preserve the site’s history while adding safe walking and biking connections through the area.
Part of a regional veloweb
The Bomber Spur is planned as one link in the North Central Texas Council of Governments’ Mobility 2050 Regional Veloweb, a long-range system meant to knit trails together across North Texas. The veloweb calls for more than 2,200 miles of off-street shared-use paths and forms part of a larger active transportation network that the North Central Texas Council of Governments says totals roughly 9,500 miles when on-street bikeways and community paths are included, according to NCTCOG. Local leaders say that regional context is why a relatively short segment like the Bomber Spur could still have outsized benefits for daily commutes and park access.
Timeline, costs and neighborhood impacts
Preliminary engineering work and project documents put phase one construction in motion with a budget in the roughly $7.8 to $8.0 million range, along with a construction status listed on the city project site. An engineering presentation on the same site notes that about 206 trees more than six inches in diameter will be removed during construction and that title research and property acquisitions are still needed in spots where the abandoned rail corridor has reverted to private owners, details that appear in the city’s preliminary design packet. City officials and project partners told the Fort Worth Report that the initial leg is expected to be built first, with a second phase following once additional federal and local funding is secured.
What comes next for neighbors
Construction crews will become a familiar sight along the southern portion of the corridor as work gets underway, but planners caution that ongoing land acquisition, funding steps and bridge work mean the full route will take years to finish. Streams & Valleys and the city’s parks department say they will keep up community meetings and share updates as milestones are reached, while residents near North Z Boaz Park should plan for temporary parking and access changes during construction.
