Downtown Bypass Project Weatherford. During a recent vote, members of the Weatherford city council unanimously decided to authorize City Manager James Hotopp to withdraw from all funding agreements involving the progression of a previously proposed downtown bypass.
This decision came following the completion of an evaluation that lasted approximately two years with both the Texas Department of Transportation and the North Central Texas Council of Governments. The results of this evaluation officially determined that the bypass wouldn’t be able to accomplish any goals for either improved traffic operations or pedestrian safety.
Hoptopp had the following to say in regards to this:
“The results were clear. The project does not achieve our community goals, and the negative impacts of the bypass on the downtown district would be substantial, especially when looking at adjacent historical properties. This is something we are just not willing to jeopardize.”
Weatherford had previously retained Kimley-Horn to help with providing professional services for a more in-depth analysis study and engineering design of the Weatherford Downtown Bypass Project. This study was designed to utilize advanced traffic modeling software, as well as real world traffic counts in order to measure the overall effectiveness of the bypass itself. Additionally, it also analyzed many different scenarios and configurations that considered historical, contextual, and environmental impacts that ensured all possible options were vetted and explored.
The vote was met with both applause and cheers from those who were in attendance, and moving forward, Weatherword will focus on solutions that are more targeted. Throughout the last few years, the downtown area has started to notice more substantial impacts on both traffic calming and pedestrian safety due to a direct result of street rehabilitation work in both the northeast and southeast areas. This is expected to be enhanced further when rehabilitation on the northwest area of downtown Weatherford commences in the near future.
Downtown Bypass Project Weatherford.. Hoptopp offered the following further comment:
“The right decision was made. I am proud of the collaborative effort made by our citizens, staff and city council who took the time to get us to this point.”
