On the Move

First I-69 signs to go up in Robstown

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has given approval to sign the first segment of Interstate 69 in Texas. The 6-mile section of US 77 stretching from I-37 to Robstown just west of Corpus Christi will likely get the signs later this year. That section of road was upgraded to interstate standards by TxDOT back in 2006 and is part of the larger I-69 corridor plan for Texas. That plan also includes US 59 through East and South Texas and US 281 south of I-37. Lower Rio Grande Valley officials are also hoping to get US 83 through the Valley added to the corridor designation. The Valley is the largest urban area in the US not connected to the Interstate system.

Signing the segments that are at Interstate-standards is an important first step in the overall I-69 project. Besides the public awareness it brings, it also allows the route to receive special federal Interstate maintenance funding and makes obtaining funding to extend it south a bit easier.

more »

Loop 410 is done!

Ribbon-cutting for Loop 410 expansion

For the past 30 years, San Antonians have complained about construction along Loop 410.  But no more.  As Mayor Julian Castro said during today’s Loop 410 ribbon-cutting ceremony, “the headaches are over!”

The last leg of the nearly $1 billion “410 for SA” project to improve Loop 410 across the northside of San Antonio is just about done with just a few final “punch list” items remaining, so TxDOT and other local officials– including the Mayor, County Judge Nelson Wolff, VIA boss Keith Parker, and city councilman John Clamp– took the opportunity today to celebrate the culmination of 30 years of work that widened Loop 410 from six to 10 lanes from Perrin-Beitel to Culebra and built new interchanges at US 281, San Pedro, I-10, and Bandera Rd.  All of these improvements have helped get Loop 410 “ahead of the curve” with regards to traffic and has significantly cut congestion and delays throughout the corridor.  And the completion comes just in time: 2009 traffic counts show that Loop 410 has regained its position as the busiest highway in San Antonio with an average of 215,000 vehicles per day between I-10 and US 281.

more »

What’s ahead for gas prices, taxes and roads

You’ll likely pay more than $3 a gallon for gas next spring.

But you’ll probably keep paying the same 18 cents per gallon federal gas tax — which has lost more than a third of its purchasing power since it was last raised in 1993.

The roads you drive on will get worse. Transit will face ongoing challenges. 

That’s what appears in the fog ahead as Republicans take back the U.S. House amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Feeding voter sentiments are widespread fears about rampant spending and taxing.

Incoming Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica of Florida told reporters last week that the gas tax will go nowhere — which mirror’s President Obama’s position — and that he wants to reconsider recent high-speed rail grants.

But Mica also said he’ll grab hold of a stalled $500 billion six-year transportation reauthorization bill, now a year overdue, and work to push it through. The bill is twice as much as the 2005 law and twice as much as what the gas tax will bring in.

Even so, the massive bill still falls some $150 billion short of just being able to maintain what we have, indicates a report headed by two former U.S. transportation secretaries. And that’s just the federal gap — states and local entities have holes too.

We are facing an “elegant degradation” of our transportation system, the report warns. It will be slow, sure and very costly.     

SOURCES: 

• Federal gas-price predictions
• St. Augustine Record report
• Reuters report
• New York Times report
• Well Within Reach report

OTHER STUDIES:

• Performance Driven
• A Bridge to Somewhere
• Paying Our Way
• Transportation for Tomorrow

Medical/Babcock plans

Click the image above for a full-sized, annotated diagram

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, work is scheduled to start soon on the Medical/Babcock intersection in the Medical Center.  I got a copy of the plans and most of the changes mirror those at the other Med Center intersection upgrades: new signals and signage, dedicated right turn bays on all four corners, and improved pavement.  A couple of other improvements are also planned:

• Long, dual left turn lanes from southbound Babcock onto Medical.  This will facilitate the morning commute and help reduce the backups on Babcock that sometimes extend nearly to Hamilton Wolfe.
• Dual left turn lanes from westbound Medical to southbound Babcock.

To facilitate the new long left turn lanes on southbound Babcock, left turns to and from Lamb Road will now be prohibited.  I know a lot of people use that to get to/from Oakdell Way– those folks will now either have to use Medical and come back around from the west or use Roanoke Run or Hamilton Wolfe to the north.  I was actually a little surprised that the plan did not completely close the Lamb Road intersection with Babcock and instead realign Oakdell Way through the empty lots there to meet Babcock at a new intersection about 150 yards or so to the north. 

Another small surprise was that the wide median on Medical on the west side of Babcock wasn’t narrowed, maybe for a dedicated left turn lane.  I often see people coming from that direction turning left onto Babcock interfere with oncoming traffic going straight or turning right and I’m convinced that the wide median there is part of the problem.  Reconfiguring that median or changing the signals to a split-phase would resolve that.

Thanks to the folks at the South Texas Medical Center Alliance, Project Control, and Pape-Dawson Engineering for making the plans available to me.

Blanco Road done! (well, almost); Babcock/Medical on deck

Somewhere on the new section of Blanco

Earlier this week, crews opened all the new lanes on the final stretch of Blanco Road outside Loop 1604, specifically from Wilderness Oaks to south of Huebner.  Last month, the new lanes north of Wilderness Oaks were opened.  All that’s left to do now is some striping, signage, and other “punch-list” items and this long-awaited improvement will be completed.  Along with the recent completion of the US 281 superstreet (well, it too is still getting finishing touches), traffic in and around Stone Oak should start to see appreciable improvements.  Additionally, off to the east, work on widening Bulverde Road from 1604 to Evans is ongoing (expected completion is late 2012) and the city is in the initial planning stages to widen Stone Oak Boulevard to six lanes.

Meanwhile, work is scheduled to start in the next week or so on the latest Medical Center intersection improvement project.  Crews will begin rebuilding the Babcock/Medical intersection in a manner similar to the other recent intersection upgrades.  I haven’t see the plans yet (I’ll update this post if/when I do), but I suspect there will be dual left turn lanes from southbound Babcock onto Medical and probably dual right-turn lanes from westbound Medical onto Babcock in addition to right-turn bays in all four quadrants and other improvements.  And nearby, work on the Hamilton-Wolfe/Floyd Curl intersection is wrapping-up; I expect it to be essentially complete by the end of this month.

• UPDATE (11/15/10): Medical/Babcock plans
• UPDATE (11/18/10): Express-News story about Blanco

Construction starting next week on Wurzbach Pkwy

TxDOT announced today that work will start next week on the first of three phases to finally complete the Wurzbach Parkway.  Crews will begin November 1st on the section from Wetmore to Jones-Maltsberger, with completion expected in early 2014.  A month later, on December 1st, work is scheduled to begin on the segment from Blanco Rd. to West Ave.  That section should be done about a year sooner, in early 2013.

That leaves the final section from West Ave. to Jones-Maltsberger.  That stretch is scheduled to go to bid in May of next year.

All three sections will feature a four-lane divided parkway similar to that already in-place east of Wetmore.  Despite earlier uncertainty over costs, it appears now that the projects will include overpasses at Blanco, West Ave., US 281, Jones-Maltsberger, and Starcrest.  However, there still are no plans at this time for a full interchange at US 281.

The total cost of all three segments is expected to be around $130 million and is being funded with Proposition 12 funds approved by the Texas Transportation Commission (TTC) about a year ago.  Officials had originally hoped to get federal stimulus funds for the project, but when that didn’t materialize, the TTC took advantage of new Prop 12 funds authorized by the Legislature.  The Wurzbach project was the largest single Prop 12 project approved last year.

Work wrapping up at the Quarry, starting on De Zavala

Crews opened all the new lanes on Jones-Maltsberger at the railroad tracks by the Quarry this past weekend.  Finish-up work should be completed by Thanksgiving, just in time for the Christmas shopping frenzy.  As you may recall, work began there earlier this year to finally remove the long-standing bottleneck between the Quarry and US 281.  Work was expected to be finished last month, but this year’s unusual rain delayed things just a bit.

Meanwhile, work began last month on a long-awaited (or maybe long-feared) project to widen De Zavala between Babcock and Cogburn.  The project will widen the road to five lanes (two each way plus a center left-turn lane) and add sidewalks, curbs, and updated traffic signals.  The $17 million project is expected to be completed in mid 2012.

US 281 superstreet finished!

Workers completed the final intersection on the US 281 superstreet this past weekend.  Initial anecdotes on the superstreet’s Facebook page have been favorable, with most people reporting significant improvements in their commute times.  However, there are apparently still a few flies in the ointment, including an apparent surge of people now using Encino Rio to avoid having to make the Evans Road turnaround.  There have also been some sporadic reports of driver confusion, which is to be expected.  And today there were reports that the morning rush hour had longer-than-usual delays, which may either be a fluke, a result of ongoing tweaking, or perhaps a surge of latent demand, i.e. motorists who were taking alternate routes suddenly choosing to go back to 281 to take advantage of the improvements.  But the preliminary results look encouraging and, as is always the case with these things, it will take some time for traffic patterns to stabilize as people learn the new configuration and optimize their own routes.  Also, engineers will continue tweaking things over the next few weeks.  With yesterday being a holiday, today’s evening rush hour and the peak driving periods over the next couple of weeks will really be the key in determining whether the project can be deemed a success, and ARMA plans to do a quantitative before-and-after analysis to objectively determine the effects.

That said, no improvement is ever perfect.  There are always trade-offs, and this project is no exception.  The folks coming from east of US 281 in the mornings are probably the ones inconvenienced the most by these changes.  Hopefully, the benefits for everyone will outweigh any drawbacks.  Time will tell.

If you use US 281 regularly, please post a comment about whether the superstreet has helped!  I’ll be headed out there this afternoon to see for myself.

Loop 1604 superstreet approved

The Alamo Regional Mobility Authority announced late yesterday that they had received federal environmental approval for their planned Loop 1604 super-street project.  That project, which will build two super-street intersections (one each at New Gilbeau and Shaenfield) as well as improvements to the intersection at SH 151, is now expected to start construction in January 2011 and be complete by August.  You can read my previous discussion on the planned improvements here.  Work on the Braun Rd. intersection improvements was recently completed and has resulted in a substantial reduction in congestion.  In fact, my wife told me yesterday to extend kudos to those responsible for it!

Meanwhile, after weeks of rain, crews were finally able to complete work on the second of four super-street intersections on US 281.  The Marshall Rd. intersection was completed this past weekend leaving the Stone Oak/TPC Pkwy. and Evans Rd. intersections left to do.

Related links:

• Second ‘superstreet’ gets feds’ clearance (MySanAntonio.com)
• Loop 1604 West “Super-street” (TexasHighwayman.com)
• ARMA news release

Big plans for Texas’ worst highway (including tolls and rail)

Planners and pundits have long decried Interstate 35 as Texas’ worst highway.

Notorious traffic backups and numerous crashes on I-35, especially on the stretch from San Antonio to Austin, have spawned big-ticket projects such as the SH 130 tollway and Lone Star commuter rail. Putting two and two together from such thinking eventually led to the now supposedly defunct Trans Texas Corridor.

But more big plans are in the making.

Four committees, each looking at a segment of I-35, are holding public meetings this month to wrap up draft plans on what to do with the highway, its feeders and parallel roads. Billions of dollars worth of projects are eyed, including this for South and Central Texas:

• Convert one I-35 lane each way into toll/carpool lanes from Buda to Georgetown
• Remove tolls and widen SH 130 to six lanes from Seguin to Georgetown
• Build high-speed passenger rail from San Antonio to Dallas
• Build passenger rail from San Antonio to Laredo
• Widen I-35 from San Antonio to Laredo

more »