Fort Worth area agencies are getting the ball rolling on transit initiatives in preparation for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Regional officials, led by the North Central Texas Council of Governments, have been in conversation since early 2023, exploring both traditional and novel modes of transportation to get visitors to AT&T Stadium in Arlington to watch the biggest sporting event in the world.
While preparations are still underway, some investment options have been identified.
In Fort Worth, those World Cup-related transit investments include upgrades to the Trinity Railway Express CentrePort Station such as rider amenities and improved signage. It also includes TRE train replacements and upgrades. This effort will be led by the Dallas Area Rapid Transit, which co-owns TRE with Trinity Metro and is seeking $30 million in grant funding to accomplish it.
The Council of Governments is also looking to coordinate with the Texas Department of Transportation to add dedicated bus lanes on area highways.
Chad Edwards, executive vice president of strategy, planning and development, said the dedicated lanes will help move people throughout the region more quickly. He also expects some charter buses to be used to transport visitors between certain points.
“It’s just working with TxDOT to kind of convey the importance of the bus lanes,” Edwards told the Fort Worth Report. “I think they understand at a certain level, but then it’s really, ‘All right, how do you manage it? How do you enforce it?’ I mean, there’s a lot of other questions there than just, ‘Let’s do a lane.’”
Agencies are also looking at enhanced TRE rail service that would provide Sunday service and additional trains to accommodate service during this period.
Other investments considered include integrating transit passes into an app to facilitate the purchase of passes, enhancing bus service in downtown Fort Worth, lengthening service times and increasing the frequency of bus routes connected to the Stockyards and Cultural District, as well as changing TEXRail and TRE service to 30-minute intervals all day.
Rich Andreski, president and CEO at Trinity Metro, told Trinity Metro’s board of directors on Jan. 16 that the agency is ready to roll out the red carpet for visitors but with a caveat.
“We’re prepared to do that. What we are not prepared to do is take resources dedicated here to our community and reassign them to serve an event in Arlington,” Andreski said. “We are certainly open to conversation, but our first priority is serving our customers here in Fort Worth.”
The Council of Governments told the Fort Worth Report that as FIFA announces more details — including whether the region will be hosting the final match, the World Cup’s Referee Headquarters, the International Broadcasting Center and a Fan Festival — there may be more transit components that need additional investment.
Beyond transit upgrades to accommodate the massive number of visitors who will be in attendance in 2026, officials are on a fast-moving schedule when it comes to improvements to the entertainment district. In September 2023, the Council of Governments and the city of Arlington agreed to swap $17.5 million previously reserved for improvements along Randol Mill Road to improve streets, sidewalks and signage around the stadium.
Trinity Metro’s Chad Edwards told its board of directors that transit agencies are considering a reservation system to note the number of people who plan to use the system and therefore manage the number of vehicles, buses and rail that will be needed.
He said each game could be the size of a Super Bowl.
Officials previously told the Fort Worth Report they were not worried about managing the large volume of visitors during the sporting event, pointing to past transportation plans for other events in Arlington’s entertainment district such as Wrestlemania.
The city will also be hosting the 2024 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in July.
At this time, Arlington remains the largest city in the United States without mass public transit. Instead, Arlington has looked at more innovative transportation methods to get residents around such as a rideshare-like program called Via.
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Sandra Sadek is a Report for America corps member, covering growth for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at sandra.sadek@fortworthreport.org or @ssadek19.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.