A long-term plan aimed at reshaping Fort Worth's McCart Avenue, a 10-mile stretch running from Interstate 20 to Burleson that has racked up one of the city's worst crash records, goes before City Council next Tuesday. Council members are scheduled to consider adopting the plan on Nov. 10, with recommendations ranging from new pedestrian crossings and lighting to major roadway reconstructions down the line.
The McCart Avenue HOTT corridor project, part of Fort Worth's 2022 bond program, is built around fixing problems that have piled up along the avenue for years, according to the Fort Worth Report. The plan is meant to address gaps in sidewalk and transit access, high crash rates along the avenue, fragmented land use, and aging commercial areas that have seen decreased investment, the outlet reports.
Those crash numbers are not abstract. A separate analysis by NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth found that McCart Avenue may be Fort Worth's deadliest street, tallying 15 crashes that killed 17 people between 2019 and 2024. Three stretches of the roadway landed among the top six on the city's high-injury list back in 2019, according to NBC 5's reporting, which also noted a city transportation official pointing to possible interim fixes like better lighting or improved sidewalks.
What the Plan Would Actually Change
The HOTT corridor project recommends a broad mix of upgrades: real-time traffic systems, pedestrian and transit improvements, shared-use paths, fiber ducts, intersection enhancements, mixed-use zoning changes and park improvements, per the Fort Worth Report. Short-term priorities single out pedestrian crossings, lighting improvements, technology upgrades and shared-use paths as the first wave of work. Longer-term, the plan calls for major roadway reconstructions, including narrowing road medians.
The corridor effort is part of Fort Worth's broader master transportation plan, which the city council adopted in June.
Residents Pushed for a Destination, Not Just a Road
Getting to this point involved months of outreach. Community engagement for the plan included stakeholder committees and drew more than 580 survey responses, with organizers targeting businesses, churches, schools and residents along the route, the Fort Worth Report notes.
At an October 8 City Plan Commission meeting, Armond Bryant said there was broad support for transforming the corridor through park, retail and safety improvements, intersection redesigns and filling sidewalk gaps. Bryant said that support for transformation was heard from residents stretching from I-20 through Crowley and from Burleson. The underlying message, per the Report, was that the community wanted the McCart Avenue corridor transformed into a destination rather than just a route people pass through. The City Plan Commission went on to recommend the plan for council adoption.
A McCart Avenue Expansion Is Also Planned
Confusingly, McCart Avenue is also the subject of a road expansion further southwest. A $48.8 million effort will widen and extend McCart Avenue and McPherson Boulevard, adding new roadway connections near Crowley, according to earlier Fort Worth Report coverage. That expansion will extend McCart Avenue south to Twin Leaf Drive and connect it with an extension of McPherson Boulevard, turning the stretch from West Risinger Road to McPherson Boulevard into a four-lane divided road and adding two lanes to the existing two-lane section between Valley Bend Drive and Cayman Drive.
As of that July report, the project was expected to be substantially finished by July 2028, with $35.4 million of the $48.8 million total budget going toward construction. The expansion involves roadway widening and new connections, while the corridor-wide long-term plan recommends a broader range of improvements.
