FORT WORTH — If you ask Matthew Lyster (and maybe even his dog Pekk), there are a lot of perks to living on Fort Worth's south side.
"I like the character it has; I like the old buildings," Lyster said.
The proximity to downtown is also a perk, he added, but one that needs some perking up.
"There's not really any way to get across, so that's really the big thing," Lyster said.
Back in April, the city broke ground on a long-awaited project that was supposed to address the problem that Interstate 30 presents. It's called the Hemphill-Lamar connector. Its goal was to link the south side and downtown with pedestrian, car and bike lanes in a tunnel under the freeway.
Construction was supposed to be well underway by now... but it's not. This week, the public learned there is a big reason why.
"As we started getting to the project this past year, we learned of additional costs we were not aware of," said Jay Chapa, the city's assistant city manager.
On Tuesday, Chapa told the mayor and City Council that cost for the connector has skyrocketed from $26.6 million to nearly $45 million. Chapa said the city wanted to start the project years ago, but unavoidable delays have now led to much higher construction prices.
Chapa said he learned about the price hike soon after he started his role with the city this summer.
The planned connector is in Council member Ann Zadeh's district.
"Just in the last couple of months is when we knew there was something we needed to look at more carefully," she said, adding that she became concerned after learning about the cost issues "because it's a project I think is very important."
But the Hemphill-Lamar connector is currently at a standstill, and Chapa is recommending it remain that way until the city can hire consultants to tell them what the best plan is moving forward. He estimates that will cost another $500,000, and the City Council would first have to approve that expenditure.
There's a chance the city could simply opt to improve existing underpasses, like the one on Jennings.
Chapa says the city has already spent $11 million on the project. He says starting the project earlier might have prevented these issues, but it was impossible.
"I mean, it would be nice to have it," Lyster says.
But at what cost? Nobody now is certain.
