Fort Worth adding cops and encouraging transit to cut down on spring break zoo traffic
Fort Worth is looking to avert a repeat of last year’s traffic problems that left some residents feeling besieged during the zoo’s spring break’s half-priced Wednesday.
In 2022, the combination of good weather, half-priced admission and an end to COVID-19 restrictions left residential neighborhoods between the zoo and Eighth Avenue choked with bumper-to-bumper traffic from patrons looking for an alternative to University Drive.
This year, the Fort Worth police department is stepping its presence along Forest Park Boulevard, while the city, zoo and Trinity Metro encourage visitors to use transit and stay off neighborhood streets.
Roughly 24,600 people visited the Fort Worth Zoo during the 2022 Spring Break half-priced Wednesday, according to Lt. Wade Walls, who heads up the Fort Worth police’s traffic division.
The attendance for the week was around 114,000, he said.
The zoo and the city are once again partnering with Trinity Metro to offer discounted admission for people who take the bus instead of a car.
The “Safari Xpress” will run every half hour from Fort Worth Central Station, and riders will get $3 off their zoo ticket. The zoo also encourages people to use ride share services to cut down on the number of cars.
The city is pausing a road improvement project along South University Drive, so as not to interfere with zoo traffic.
The city had closed lanes in mid-February to replace a sewer main between Interstate 30 and Old University Drive, but is holding off on adding a median and improving sidewalks until after spring break, a city spokesperson said in an email to the Star-Telegram.
The biggest changes this year will be the increased police presence in residential neighborhoods east of the zoo.
The Fort Worth police will have barricades blocking access to neighborhood streets along the eastern half of Forest Park Boulevard between West Rosedale Street and Park Place Avenue, Walls said.
Seven officers will be dedicated to that stretch with motorcycle officers patrolling the Berkeley Place neighborhood to prevent non-residents from parking there, he said.
It’s not everything neighbors wanted, but the police and the city are doing the best they can, said Amy Allibon, president of the Berkeley Place neighborhood association.
She compared the traffic impacts from half-priced Wednesday during spring break to an ice storm, and encouraged her neighbors to be prepared to be stuck at home.
The city is encouraging residents to take West Berry Street to South University Drive to get the zoo.
People can also come earlier in the week, as the first few days of spring break are usually not as busy, a zoo spokesperson wrote in an email.
Spring break runs from March 11-19. The zoo is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m, Monday to Friday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
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