With Bedford’s new master plan approved in September, City Council took another step Tuesday toward its implementation by voting unanimously (6-0) to contract with Westwood Professional Services for a “conceptual design” to make improvements on Bedford Road.  Council Member Rob Gagliardi was absent.

The $98,200 contract with Westwood will apply components detailed in the master plan toward beautification of the thoroughfare.  However, even though the “entire length of Bedford Road is identified as a complete corridor,” according to the Council’s meeting agenda, this project will only focus on the segment from Woodson Drive east to Industrial Boulevard.

Explaining the focus, Bedford’s Director of Communications Director Molly Fox said the City plans to look at the rest of Bedford Road for improvements, but this section has been prioritized because it “was identified by traffic counts as being overbuilt.”

According to the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) traffic count map, that section of Bedford Road carries about 6,000 vehicles per day, compared to Harwood Road with a traffic count of about 15,000 vehicles per day.  TxDOT numbers show Bedford Road’s traffic count west of Central Drive as high as 8,800 vehicles per day.

The purpose of the project, stated Bedford’s City Engineer Joe Schweitzer, P.E., who presented the plan to the Council, “is to reduce the relatively unused width of Bedford Road and beautify that corridor with pedestrian and bicycle amenities.

“We have some pedestrian crosswalk challenges,” Schweitzer explained, so as part of the master plan, the project will connect to “the overall trail network” at Woodson Drive with “the communities to the east of [Highway] 121 and [with] Sparger Park.”  He added that the trail network could “potentially connect” with Trinity High School.  He said the goal is also to “increase visibility” and “reduce speeds” around the curves to “provide for greater pedestrian safety.”  In addition, “we’re also looking for a mix of landscaping [that] would help improve the usability,” Schweitzer said.