What is the Central City Flood Control Project?
The two main components of the flood control project are: the rerouting of a section of the Trinity River due north of downtown and modifying a large park on the
east sie of the city to better manage flood events in a manner that will also restore the area.
- The new channel will move help move water more efficiently through the area north of downtown during large flood events.
- Newly built flood water storage areas in Gateway Park will slow flood waters so that downstream flood levels do not change.
Why does Fort Worth need the project?
To protect the citizens of Fort Worth. At a high level, there are two main factors that create our
flood risks. Fort Worth’s booming population increase and the 90° turn in the Trinity River right after the merge of the West Fork and Clear Fork, just north of Downtown.
Fort Worth has nearly tripled in size since the United States Corps of Engineers built the current levee system in the early 1960s. Our levee system was built for a population of roughly 350,000 people and Fort Worth has now surpassed 900,000 people. Because of the booming population growth, even as far back as the early 2000s, the USACE had already determined that 86% of Fort Worth’s current levee system is no longer tall enough to protect us from the events the Corps expects to hit this area. Meaning, if Fort Worth saw a flood similar to that of the 1949 event, over 2,400 acres of neighborhoods in our city could be flooded again.
Who are the project partners and what are their roles?
Tarrant Regional Water District – land acquisition, relocation, demolition, and environmental cleanup.
City of Fort Worth – utility improvements and relocations (sanitary sewer, water, storm drainage) and local street modifications.
Department of Transportation – three four-lane bridges over the bypass channel.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – 10 flood water storage areas, bypass channel, 3 isolation gates, a dam, and pump station.
When is the project expected to be completed?
2032 is the current expected project completion date, per the USACE construction schedule. The scope of the Central City Flood Control Project has not changed since 2008. However, the project progress is contingent on federal appropriated funds to begin the construction of major components like the bypass channel and gates. The estimated 10-year construction schedule remains unchanged; however, the schedule was impacted by the lack of federal appropriated funds.
