East Fort Worth gateway sign on track to welcome drivers in spring 2026

by David Moreno, Fort Worth Report
December 26, 2025

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The $1 million Fort Worth gateway sign welcoming drivers to the city is on track to be complete this spring after 20 years in development.  

The State Highway 121 Art Project that features the city’s name spelled out in 10-foot steel letters from west of Maxine Street to Beach Street on Texas State Highway 121 will be finished in May 2026, said Anne Allen, public art project manager with Arts Fort Worth. 

Seeing the project near completion is like seeing your child go off to college, said Allen, who has overseen the gateway for 18 years. 

Steel letters are currently being fabricated and will be installed in early March. The sign will feature the H at the end of Fort Worth closer to the frontage road and the F closer to downtown. 

Once the letters are placed, landscapers will surround the pieces with native flowers and lights to illuminate the sign at sunset. There will be no main closures on 121 during the installation. 

A dedication ceremony for the public art project will be planned for a later date, said Allen. 

Council member Jeanette Martinez, who represents the area where the sign will be installed, said the new public art piece will not only serve as a gateway to “our beautiful downtown,” but as a staple destination in the city. 

“I am proud to have this monument in District 11 and I am sure that sentiment is shared by residents citywide,” she said in a statement.

The State Highway 121 Art Project has been in the works since 2004. The gateway sign took decades to get off the ground due to multiple challenges, including changes in locations, design plans and state and federal highway regulations. 

Arts Fort Worth staff also had to find additional funding for labor and construction cost increases, said Allen. 

The project received its final dollars in late April when Fort Worth City Council approved a $571,578 contract with C. Green Scaping for construction of the sign.

“We’ve had a lot of perseverance on my part as project manager, the city’s determination to see this project happen, and the original design team’s determination to stick with it,” Allen said in late June. 

Once the gateway is constructed, visitors are advised not to pull over for photos as the public art project was designed to be viewed from cars in motion.

David Moreno is the arts and culture reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports.

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