Construction and closures Roads: I-10 Loop 1604 public meeting US 281
by Brian
2 comments
Two big San Antonio transpo meetings next week
Two agencies– TxDOT and ARMA– will be conducting public meetings next week for two separate projects.
First up is ARMA with a public meeting to discuss the US 281/Loop 1604 interchange project, scheduled to break ground later this year. It is being funded primarily by federal stimulus money and will build the first four elevated ramps connecting 281 south of 1604 to both directions on 1604. The meeting is Monday, January 11, at Parkhills Baptist Church, 17747 San Pedro. Doors open at 5:30pm for an open house. The formal presentation begins at 7:00pm with public comments thereafter. I’m going to try and have a web page on the interchange project done this weekend.
Two days later, TxDOT will hold a public hearing on proposed improvements to I-10 West from Ramsgate to Loop 1604. These plans have been on the back burner for serveral years as no funding has been available. The planned improvements include adding an extra mainlane in each direction and major revisions of the ramps in that area. As those of you who pass through there know, the ramp configuration outbound between Huebner and De Zavala is particularly problematic. The last renderings I saw removed the existing ramp for De Zavala and instead re-purposed the Woodstone exit ramp as the De Zavala exit. That one small change alone, assuming it’s still in the works, will be a big improvement. The hearing will take place on January 13th at the Clark High School cafeteria, 5150 De Zavala Rd. The open house begins at 6:30pm with the actual presentation and public hearing starting at 7:00pm.
Commuting History Roads Safety Transit Travel Uncategorized
by Hugh
Comments Off on Book review: Traffic, by Tom Vanderbilt
Book review: Traffic, by Tom Vanderbilt
I’ve just finished reading “TRAFFIC,” by Tom Vanderbilt, published by Vintage Books in 2009. It is subtitled, “Why we drive the way we do and what it says about us.” I heartily recommend it to anyone interested in trying to understand the mundane yet highly complex activity we call driving.
Pigs will fly!
As a married man of a certain age, one expects to be given Yuletide tasks. It is a given that your regular round will be interrupted with missions for which it could be said you are not the most adapted member of the family. But it came to pass this holiday season that my dear wife provided me with one of the most extraordinary chores I have ever had to perform at this or any other Christmas. It involves flying pigs at the Mexican border.
Laws and policies Roads Toll roads: CDAs MPO superstreet Tommy Adkisson US 281
by Brian
2 comments
MPO approves long-range plan; Tommy starts to get it
As reported here last week, the San Antonio-Bexar County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) policy board was scheduled to vote on the “Mobility 2035” long-range regional plan yesterday. Toll opponents were angry because the plan included numerous projects in three corridors (I-35 North, Loop 1604, and I-10 West) pigeon-holed as toll-concession projects, also known as Comprehensive Development Agreement (CDA) projects. As I explained previously, because current projections show little to no gas-tax funds being available during the time span of the plan, those projects had to have creative funding “placeholders” assigned to them in order to continue planning work on them, those placeholders being CDAs.
Gas taxes Laws and policies Roads Toll roads: CDAs MPO pass-through financing planning Prop 12 funds stimulus funds TURF
by Brian
5 comments
TURF: “MPO rams 37 toll projects down San Antonians’ throats”
During my daily review of transportation news, I came across this the-sky-is-falling press release by staunch toll-opponent Terri Hall and her TURF organization. As usual, TURF shows a continued lack of insight of what’s actually happening and peppers the article with their predictable array of tried-and-true rhetoric, fallacies, and mendacities as they denounce the large number of projects that are listed as possible toll and Comprehensive Development Agreement (CDA) projects in the new 25-year regional transportation plan. Yes, there are a substantial number of toll-option projects in the plan. However, the outright panic by TURF is premature and demonstrates their failure to see and comprehend the bigger picture and actually jeopardizes badly-needed future projects.
Construction and closures Roads: Jones-Maltsberger railroad crossing stimulus funds widening
by Brian
Comments Off on Relief coming for Jones-Maltsberger bottleneck
Relief coming for Jones-Maltsberger bottleneck
Long a bane for shoppers trying to get to the Quarry Market from US 281 or vice-versa, improvements are finally on the way for the railroad crossing on Jones-Maltsberger.
Last week, the city announced that it had secured federal stimulus and state funds to widen Jones-Maltsberger. Presently, the street narrows from four lanes down to two at the tracks, then widens again back to four lanes on the other side. The improvements will consist of widening the road at the crossing to four lanes (two in each direction) plus a dedicated right-turn lane for traffic turning onto US 281 northbound.
According to the city, construction is set to start next February and be completed by the end of summer.
So what took so long to get this job done? My recollection is that there was some dispute between the city and TxDOT as to who was responsible for that section of roadway, not to mention the fact that any work involving a railroad crossing also has to include the railroad. Ergo, it took a while to get it all sorted-out. Then it was simply a matter of securing the funding, which is typically the sticking-point on most road projects.
UPDATE 1/8/10: San Antonio Express-News story
It’s that time of year again!
On the way home from work one day last week, I noticed that TxDOT workers had started unfolding the “Watch for ice on bridge” signs. That and the delivery of the phone books marks the beginning of the holiday season for me (although the latter is almost certainly nearing the end of the road, so-to-speak.)
Some folks wonder why the signs are displayed when there’s no ice or even the possibility of it. Well, some time ago (nobody can recall just when, but it was at least a decade ago), TxDOT changed their policy to display these signs from just before the date of the earliest average freeze for an area until after the average last freeze. Prior to that, the signs would only be unfolded when freezing precipitation was forecast. This meant that TxDOT crews often had to scramble to get the signs ready for an incoming storm. Also, as you might imagine, it requires considerable manpower (and thus expense) to go out and unfold every sign, then go back after the storm and fold them back up. Plus, there was always the chance of a freak storm hitting without warning, meaning there would not be time to get the signs opened. So the decision was made to just leave them unfolded for the entire time that ice is typically possible. Yes, it means that most of the time they’re not applicable, but if nothing else, they do raise awareness of the dangers of the season.
Commuting History Oil and gas prices Passenger rail Railroads Roads Transit Travel
by Hugh
Comments Off on SA – Austin passenger rail still dead
SA – Austin passenger rail still dead
Like the old Saturday Night sketch about Generalissimo Franco, passenger rail between San Antonio and Austin is still dead. Oh a mortician applied a new coat of make-up, but the poor old stiff ain’t going nowhere. After twelve years of failure, a new name and an application for $5 million of tax payer money was enough to create a blip of interest but even that has not lasted long. Oh well.
Funding approved to complete Wurzbach Pkwy
The Texas Transportation Commission (TTC) yesterday approved $130 million in Proposition 12 bond funds to complete the Wurzbach Parkway in San Antonio. The parkway project, which began in the late ’80s as a beltline to connect I-35 to I-10 across North San Antonio, has been built piecemeal over the years as funding has become available. Earlier this year, TxDOT updated the environmental studies to make the project “shovel-ready” in case federal stimulus funds became available. That didn’t materialize, but that preparation paid-off Thursday because the Legislature had mandated that the first batch of Prop 12 funds be spent by September 2011. Therefore, the TTC prioritized projects that could be started quickly. Because of that prep work the local TxDOT folks did, Wurzbach Parkway fit that criteria nicely.
Who put the “free” in “freeway”?
The motto of San Antonio toll road opponents is “Keep our FREEways free!” However, the term freeway doesn’t really mean that it’s free to drive on. Now admittedly my Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary has “a toll-free highway” as its second definition for freeway. But that use is purely colloquial and can lead to a lot of misunderstandings when talking about toll roads. Besides, if that was the true definition of a freeway, then the little residential street in front of most of our homes would be a “freeway”, and we all instinctively know that that’s just not the case.
So then, just what is the definition of a freeway?