Galen Scott

gscott@weatherforddemocrat.com

In terms of transportation resources, Parker County is currently a big fish in a very small pond.

Michael Morris made that analogy during a public input meeting at the Parker County Courthouse Monday evening. Morris is director of transportation for the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG).

“You may want to consider being a smaller fish in a very large pond,” Morris added.

Officials from NCTCOG gathered input from local officials and citizens concerning a plan to expand its Metropolitan Planning Area to include all of Parker County.

The proposed boundary change would allow NCTCOG to consider, directly or indirectly, all of Parker County’s current and future transportation needs.

The last time NCTCOG pushed its planning boundary outward was in 2003, when State Hwy. 199 to Azle was added, along with a finger of far-East Parker County and a tiny portion of southern Wise County.

“We contend our current boundary doesn’t reflect what will be urbanized by 2030,” said Morris, who is responsible for carrying out regional transportation policy. “We really think it’s time to formulate a relationship that will result in a structural change.”

Federal rules require the agency’s planning boundaries to include not only existing urban areas, but adjacent areas expected to become urban in the next 20 years.

Part of Mobility 2008, the region’s $71 billion financial blueprint for future transportation projects, calls for a new loop around the Metroplex.

The western segment of that loop is expected to run along the eastern edge of Parker County.

Morris said NCTCOG needs to have Parker County in its planning area in order to collect data needed for the Metroplex loop and other projects.

NCTCOG currently relies on the 40-member Regional Transportation Council (RTC) for local input. The RTC is composed of local elected or appointed officials from the metropolitan area and representatives from each of the area’s transportation providers.

Parker County currently shares one representative seat on the RTC with other counties outside NCTCOG’s core planning area.

If the planning area is expanded to include Parker County, the agency would likely have to undergo a bylaw restructuring, which would open the door for a new policy giving Parker County a seat on the RTC, despite having a current population of less than 200,000.

“It’s sure hard to come out to your neck of the woods and not have a representative from Parker County,” Morris said.

The City of Weatherford is already benefiting from NCTCOG consultant work on its pass-through toll partnership with the state, and Parker County is aided by NCTCOG funds and resources aimed at alleviating traffic problems along FM 1187 in Aledo.

However, more money could become available because of the planned expansion.

NCTCOG is responsible programming its dollars toward regional commuter rail initiatives and other regional transportation initiatives, and will leverage local bond money, increasing Parker County’s overall transportation funding.

According to population growth projections, Parker County will need even more help than it already does.

Estimates suggest Interstate-20 from the Tarrant County line to Weatherford, State Hwy. 171 south from Downtown Weatherford to Doyle Road and State Hwy. 199 from Fort Worth to Azle will all have more than 25,000 vehicles traveling on them per day by 2025.

Information provided by the U.S. Census Bureau suggests the Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington Metroplex is currently the nation’s fourth largest metropolitan area, with a population of more than 6 million in 2006. NCTCOG projects that number will double by 2050.

Parker County’s population is widely expected to more than triple in the next 22 years, and population forecasters say the City of Weatherford will balloon to more than 40,000. However, these population growth projections took place before significant mineral production started occurring over the Barnett Shale, according to NCTCOG Assistant Transportation Director Dan Kessler.

“Our agency is in the process of doing a new forecast, and this data is very conservative,” he said.

If enough local governments in peripheral counties support NCTCOG’s proposed planning area expansion, the RTC would then present the case for enlarging before the Texas Transportation Commission and Governor Perry’s Office.

Pending approval in Austin, Parker County could begin benefiting from NCTCOG resources as early as this summer.