Fort Worth adopts long-range transportation plan to guide city growth through 2050

Fort Worth, Texas – Fort Worth has placed its long-range transportation future into one guiding document, after the City Council unanimously adopted the Master Transportation Plan into the Comprehensive Plan on Tuesday.

The vote marked a major step for a city still growing fast and planning far beyond the next road project. With the action, Fort Worth now has a unified transportation framework meant to guide future investments, capital planning and policy decisions as the city looks toward 2050.

The plan was developed by the City’s Transportation & Public Works Department after two years of transportation planning, regional coordination, community engagement and data analysis. Local partners, including Tarrant County and Trinity Metro, joined community groups at the council meeting to support the plan and confirm their role in shaping it.

Along with adopting the Master Transportation Plan, the council approved City Code amendments to bring local rules in line with the new document. Council members also updated the Access Management Policy, adding another piece to the larger effort to make transportation decisions more consistent across Fort Worth.

The plan will help prioritize transportation projects across four-year, 10-year and 25-year windows. Those timelines are meant to shape how projects move through development, funding, design and construction. In practical terms, the MTP becomes the city’s roadmap for deciding which projects rise first, which ones need more planning and how Fort Worth prepares for future growth.

A central part of the plan is the Master Roadway Network, known as the MRN. It replaces the city’s former Master Thoroughfare Plan and lays out the ultimate roadway network needed to support long-term development. The MRN identifies future road alignments, right-of-way needs and functional classifications across the system.

It also goes further than road lines on a map. The network defines design expectations for different roadway types, including multimodal elements. City officials say that added clarity should help Fort Worth design, build and maintain streets with more consistency.

The public process also moved through formal review before Tuesday’s vote. In accordance with the Local Government Code, notice of the public hearing was published in the Star-Telegram on May 8. The City Plan Commission recommended approval of the MTP and related City Code amendments on May 14.

Now that the plan has been adopted, TPW will begin a citywide speed study and move ahead with the first four years of the Transportation Investment Cycle, which aligns with recently approved bond projects. Staff will also seek regional, state and federal funding partnerships for priority work.

For Fort Worth, the message is clear: the plan is not just about today’s traffic. The MTP is here to bring the city to 2050.