Jessica Tell describes navigating the pot holes and narrow lanes of Miller Avenue as nerve wracking. Other drivers often speed past her, which makes the drive even more difficult.

Tell estimates she sees a car accident on the street about once a week.

“I don’t know what could be done about it,” Tell said. Speeding “happens so often. It’s so frequent.”

Tell is the assistant director of Kids R Us daycare, near the intersection of Hardeman Street and Miller Avenue on Fort Worth’s east side, just north of 287. The intersection marks the southern end of a stretch of Miller Avenue that is the corridor that has the highest number of vehicle crashes in the city.

The Miller Avenue corridor is one of eight identified for improvements through the city’s new Vision Zero plan, a European design philosophy that aims to eliminate traffic fatalities. The plan is aimed at improving Fort Worth’s roadways by accounting for all modes of transportation, not just vehicles, and using crash data to assess the greatest needs for road repairs. The work will be paid for by the 2022 bond approved by city residents, though not enough money has been set aside to address all eight corridors.

Miller Avenue, like many others assessed as dangerous, is located in or adjacent to what are called “super majority minority areas,” a measure the city uses for census blocks that have a minority population of at least 75%. Miller Avenue bisects two super majority minority census blocks: one to the west has a population that is 100% minority and one to the east has 99% minority population.

Tanya Brooks, the city’s assistant director of mobility planning and transportation, said the problems with Miller Avenue — its inconsistent street lighting, poor road conditions and design conducive for speeding — are common among roads in Fort Worth’s majority minority areas.

The condition of such roads and the lack of sidewalks and street lights has contributed to higher crash rates, city officials say. But they’re hopeful that a new equity-based approach in work funded by bond elections and Vision Zero’s framework could remedy current problems and eliminate future transportation disparities.

Footprint of investment

Miller Avenue was rated worst for vehicle crashes in the city’s analysis of all accidents in the city limits from TxDOT data from 2015-2019. This Vision Zero High Injury Network report includes lists of three top 10 corridors for problems: one for vehicle accidents, one for bicycle accidents and one for pedestrian accidents. Among these, eight corridors have been identified for upgrades.

Among the combined 30 corridors identified, 79% are in or adjacent to super majority minority areas.

Where people are getting hit

This map shows where over 2,200 cyclists and pedestrians were hit by a car in Fort Worth between 2016 and 2021. Most accidents were in the city's urban core where poor sidewalks and street lighting make it hard for residents to avoid nearby traffic. Tap a cluster for more info or to zoom into that area. You can turn the person type displayed on and off in the legend. To view the map larger, tap "Open" at the bottom of the map. The City of Fort Worth provided the data.

Open

Steve Wilson swilson@star-telegram.com

Just east of Miller Avenue, Eastland Street is rated as having the 10th highest number of pedestrian accidents.

According to 2018 data from the city’s Race and Culture Task Force report, minority areas had 30% of the city’s total sidewalks but had 67% of the sidewalks in poor condition.

Streetlights were also limited in communities of color. According to the task force, minority areas had 32% of the city’s installed street lights but 43% of its poor condition streetlights.

According to city officials, a lack of investment in particular communities, older infrastructure, the prioritization of projects and other factors may have contributed to these disparities.

Brooks, the assistant director of mobility planning and transportation, said corridors in majority minority or super majority minority areas that ranked high in the Vision Zero High Injury Network report often had one thing in common: they lacked streetlights, sidewalks, pavement lines and other improvements.

“We know that the speed that drivers drive is essentially a result of that roadway design,” Brooks said. “Typically, if you don’t have sidewalks along that corridor when you’re driving, the motorist is not looking for pedestrians along that corridor, so they tend to drive a little bit faster.”

Christina Brooks, chief equity officer in the city’s diversity and inclusion department, said she often referenced Fort Worth’s redlining maps to understand the causes of infrastructure and crash rate disparities. At one time, banks often redlined maps to mark off neighborhoods considered dangerous for investments and did not make loans to people in those neighborhoods.

“When you put that layer of the original 1940 redline map over the high injury network where the Vision Zero plans to address, it really does have an uncanny resemblance to that original footprint,” Brooks said.

The infrastructure disparities can have life or death consequences. All of Fort Worth’s pedestrian fatalities and bicycle crash fatalities occurred in super majority minority areas from 2015 to 2019.

Remedying forgotten roads

The aftermath of the Race and Culture Task Force’s research and final report at the end of 2018 formally began the incorporation of equity into the 2022 bond election process.

In rating of projects to be included in the bond proposal, 10 points were assigned to arterials or neighborhood streets that were located in super majority minority areas on a 100 point scale, said Kelly Porter, assistant director of the city’s transportation and public works department. Other points were assigned based on factors such as congestion and the amount of construction needed. Out of the total $80 million allocated to neighborhood streets through the bond, nearly $54 million was allocated for streets in super majority minority areas.

“The city of Fort Worth is actively trying to address those needs, understanding that we want every geographic location, every neighborhood in Fort Worth to enjoy the same level of safety of livability,” Brooks said. “This is a part of kind of remedying that.”

Brooks said that for years, road repairs were done in response to complaints. But now the city’s approach is proactive, using data such as high crash rates to prioritize roads that need repair, Brooks said.

“We think it’s going to address a lot of the lack of infrastructure in communities that have not traditionally called in and requested the infrastructure,” she said.

The Vision Zero framework is intended to address the way roads have been designed and repaired in the past, Brooks said.

“Our roads previously were designed to move vehicles as quickly as possible,” Brooks said. “They were designed to move vehicles only. There was no consideration for … our pedestrians or bicyclists or folks who are using transit. But we’ve learned over time that we should design with them in mind so that we can enhance safety.”

Road repair and road design will take into account all aspects of the road and all modes of transportation, including sidewalks, she said. The city also plans to add more buttons to trigger lights for people at crosswalks and flashers along pedestrian paths.

The transportation department is also taking action to mitigate speeding as much as possible. Reducing the width of travel lanes to 11 feet and adding trees and other physical objects along roads are aspects the city will incorporate that have been shown to make drivers more aware of their speed.

Additional funding needed

The total cost of repairing the eight selected corridors is about $22 million, and they’ve been allocated $5 million from the bond. Brooks said the hope is to complete those repairs in four to five years. Plans have not been made for the order in which the projects will be started, a city representative said. The eight corridors are:

1. Camp Bowie West Boulevard from Renzel Boulevard to Boston Avenue.

2. Isbell Road from White Settlement Road to Ohio Garden Road.

3. Long Avenue from Azle Avenue to Angle Avenue.

4. Eastland Street from Miller Avenue to Edgewood Terrace.

5. Miller Avenue from Eastland Street to Hardeman Street.

6. 28th Street from Clinton Street to I-35W Southbound Frontage Road.

7. Altamesa Boulevard from Woodway Drive to McCart Avenue.

8. Allen Avenue from Hemphill Street to Main Street.

Brooks said the city will look for additional funding sources beyond the funds from the city bond package.

Tell, the daycare assistant director, said she hopes to see changes on Miller Avenue.

“It’s not bright enough” on Miller Avenue, Tell said.

She said she hopes to see more streetlights installed. In the meantime, Tell said, she always waits extra seconds on a green light in case someone speeds through.