FT. WORTH, TX — McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. recently completed the Hemphill Street Connector in Fort Worth, Texas. This is a Construction Manager at Risk project that included the construction of a roadway and pedestrian pathway tunnel underneath Interstate Highway 30, as well as a new rail bridge to support four existing Union Pacific Railroad lines. The project extends Hemphill Street beyond Vickery Boulevard, via a tunnel that improves traffic flow between downtown Fort Worth and the city’s medical district.

The Hemphill connector is intended to promote community cohesion and increase safety for pedestrians traveling between downtown and Near Southside. The project involved a four-lane major arterial street comprised of 12-foot lanes, retaining walls, streetlights, and traffic signals. Pedestrians now have wide sidewalks and bike lanes for safe passage along the thoroughfare. The project also consisted of drainage improvements, irrigation, and landscaping.

The total budget of the project was $53 million with the City of Fort Worth contributing $26.6 million. The remaining funding came from the North Texas Council of Governments, the Texas Department of Transportation, and Tarrant County.

McCarthy has experience constructing civil and infrastructure projects including a similar one, the Texas A&M Wellborn Road Grade Separation project. This project included the construction of a four-lane vehicular underpass roadway and two 30-foot-wide pedestrian pathways that reduced heavy traffic over existing railroad tracks and Wellborn Road at Texas A&M University College Station campus.