Road construction abounds in and around Fort Worth, a testament to modernization and the area’s unprecedented growth. And while that growth is often celebrated, few appreciate the sight of orange construction cones and striped barriers barring progress on their daily commute. That’s especially true when lanes are blocked, but workers are nowhere to be seen.
A recent midday tour of road project sites around Fort Worth showed that to be the case in places like the intersection of Marine Creek Parkway and Cromwell-Marine Creek Road and the intersection of South Hulen Street and Risinger Road. And on Camp Bowie Boulevard, where a water line was being repaired between Ridglea Avenue and Hilldale Road, Camp Bowie was down to one lane, creating gridlock while a single worker went about his business with a shovel.
Beyond the optics of having one or no workers present at a project site in the middle of a pleasant day (it was approximately 70 degrees and sunny), there’s the question of why road projects seem to take so long in Fort Worth. Is it just perception? Or is there more to it?
Lara Ingram, a spokesperson for Fort Worth’s Transportation and Public Works department, said there’s more to road projects than meets the eye…