The Texas Transportation Commission approved increasing the speed limit to 75 mph on about 1,500 miles of mostly-rural Interstate highways in the state.  Around the San Antonio area, the following stretches will see 75 mph signs soon:

• I-10 West from Loop 1604 to past Kerrville (where it’s already 80 mph)
• I-10 East from just outside Loop 410 to Waller County west of Houston
• I-35 South from Palo Alto Rd. to the existing 75 mph section south of Devine
• I-37 from just inside Loop 410 to Corpus Christi

I-35 between San Antonio and Austin was not approved for the higher speed limit.

The Legislature approved the higher speed limits last year.

More information

• TxDOT’s 75 mph page – http://www.txdot.gov/safety/speed_limit/75mph.htm

In San Antonio and across Texas, there has been a rash of wrong-way drivers (WWD) over the past few years.  In San Antonio last year, there was a WWD about every other day.  Fortunately, 80% of those drivers caused no accidents.  But sadly, seven people were killed by WWDs last year.  Of no surprise was that the majority of WWDs were intoxicated.

To combat the problem, several agencies formed the San Antonio Wrong Way Driver Task Force in March 2011.  Those agencies include TxDOT, SAPD, City of San Antonio Public Works Department, Bexar County Sherrif’s Office, and Texas Transportation Institute, and the Federal Highway Administration.  The task force worked to determine the extent and characteristics of the local problem, evaluate previous research and countermeasures, and formulate a plan to test and implement countermeasures locally.

After crunching the data, it was determined that the most WWD incidents occurred between midnight and 6am with Saturday night/Sunday morning being the worst by far (nearly twice that of Friday nights, which was the second most dangerous.)

In determining the worst locations, engineers found that it was nearly impossible to ascertain the exit ramp where the WWD entered.  In fact, the wrong way entry point could be identified in just five cases last year.  Furthermore, focusing on specific ramps limited the effectiveness of the evaluation of the issue or any subsequent countermeasure programs.  Therefore, the problem was scoped by corridor.  In that context, the US 281 corridor from downtown to Stone Oak showed the most WWD incidents.

Next, the group evaluated potential countermeasures.  One of the first suggestions made by the general public is the use of wrong-way spike devices like those used in parking lots.  However, previous research and testing has shown that these devices are not the obvious panacea many folks think them to be.  Here are some of the problems noted in the task force’s report:

• Such devices are only designed for low-speed locations (< 10 mph).
• When tested in a high-speed location, even after being modified, the spikes did not cause the tires to deflate quickly enough to prevent the vehicle from entering the freeway and making significant progress.
• During testing in a high-speed location, the spikes often broke, making the device useless for its intended purpose and, furthermore, damaging the tires of vehicles headed in the right direction.
• Many right-way drivers perceived the devices as a hazard and hit their brakes, thus creating a hazardous condition.
• The devices were slippery during wet weather.
• Dirt, debris, and ice build up in the devices, preventing the spikes from folding down properly for right-way drivers.

Not mentioned in the report is the fact that even if spikes worked as intended, that would leave a disabled vehicle in the middle of an exit ramp, most often in the dark, thus presenting a serious traffic hazard for other drivers.

Given all these factors, spike strips are just a bad idea all around.

San Antonio is not the first city to encounter this problem, and therefore other countermeasures were available for evaluation.  One of the first things looked at was enhanced static signing.  TxDOT has already developed a checklist for increasing the visibility of static wrong-way signage and markings and has implemented that scheme on most ramp locations in San Antonio.  They are now considering additional “supplemental” measures including oversized signs as needed.

SAPD currently relies almost exclusively on the public to report WWDs.  All but one of the WWD incidents last year was first reported by the public (the other one was observed by a TransGuide operator.)  To improve the detection of WWDs, various detection devices can be employed.  These can be installed on exit ramps as well as on the main lanes and can alert SAPD and TransGuide dispatchers within seconds of a WWD being detected.

Also evaluated were “active” warning signs that either light-up or flash red borders when activated by a detection device.  These can also be placed on exit ramps and/or the main lanes.

Finally, physical channelization (i.e. the use of traffic islands to shunt traffic in the proper direction) on frontage road driveways was evaluated.

To determine the effectiveness of these devices, TxDOT selected the US 281 corridor from downtown to Stone Oak for a test project.  Wrong-way detection devices and active signage will be placed on each exit ramp in the corridor as well as at four main lane locations: south of Encino Rio, south of Thousand Oaks, south of Loop 410, and north of Hildebrand.  In addition, TxDOT will continue their practice of putting WWD warnings on the TransGuide dynamic message signs.  After the devices are installed, the effectiveness of these measures will be evaluated.  Work has already started and the system is expected to go online in mid February 2012.  Design work on a second corridor– I-35 from US 90 to I-37– is underway.  Because of the unique features of that corridor, including double-decked sections and non-typical exit ramps, different countermeasures may be employed.  Depending on the outcome of these projects, the system may be expanded to the rest of the city’s freeway system.

Hopefully, these countermeasures prove effective at solving a problem that is simply getting out of hand.

More information

• The San Antonio Wrong Way Driver Initiative

UPDATE (11/1/11) - The changeover has been postponed until Wednesday.

Just back from vacay and have some local news to report.  The final element of the package of improvements along Loop 1604 West that included two superstreet intersections will come online tomorrow.  Namely, the left turn from southbound 1604 to SH 151 will be eliminated.  Motorists wanting to go to SH 151 will now exit at a new exit ramp just south of Culebra, follow the access road, then cross 1604 at a perpendicular signalized intersection.  The existing entrance ramp from Culebra will be closed and replaced by an improved entrance ramp at the SH 151 intersection.  (For a schematic of these changes, see the link under “Additional information” below.)

Like the superstreet intersections, this change will most likely seem completely unintuitive for many folks.  After all, southbound Loop 1604 traffic will now have to stop to allow traffic to enter SH 151 whereas before they didn’t ever have to stop.  But this new arrangement will actually be safer overall and will help reduce congestion in the area.  The reason is that most of the traffic coming from Culebra moves over to the left to make the turn onto 151.  This causes lots of conflicts with through traffic on 1604, thus creating an unsafe free-for-all and lots of resulting congestion, not to mention the resulting driver angst.  Moving all that traffic onto the access road (which has been improved to handle it) will eliminate that mess.  Yes, southbound 1604 traffic will now be stopped periodically to allow traffic to cross over to 151, but it will be better controlled now, which will improve safety.  And there are some things that will mitigate the delay to southbound 1604 traffic: 151-bound traffic will now be moving straight, so it can move a little faster than it did when turning left; there will be three lanes crossing 1604, thus improving throughput by 50%; and the signal can be synchronized to minimize the disruption to southbound platoons of vehicles coming from Shaenfield.  Computer modeling of these changes showed an astounding 85% reduction in morning peak period delays and a 47% reduction in the afternoon over current levels.

The change is also considered a necessary preparatory change for the upcoming SH 151 underpass at Loop 1604.  That left-turning traffic will need to be moved out of the way to facilitate that anyway, so doing it now will help expedite that project when it starts next year.

Finally, the changes will have some ancillary benefits including allowing traffic from Alamo Ranch Parkway to reach SH 151 and allowing traffic headed to Alamo Ranch from southbound 1604 to bypass the congested Culebra intersection, both of which should reduce the congestion in that intersection a bit.

The previous improvements along Loop 1604 have already resulted in a dramatic reduction in congestion.  As I have previously reported, the simple addition of an auxiliary through lane at Braun virtually eliminated the peak period backups there.  Since then, the superstreet intersections at New Gilbeau and at Shaenfield have turned a chronically-congested stretch of 1604 into free-flowing, even in peak periods.

Additional information:

• Loop 1604/SH 151 improvements schematic
• Loop 1604 West Superstreet

The biggest quake around here before today’s was in 1993.  Long-timers may remember that just a few days before that quake, inspectors had found some cracking in a pylon supporting the then-new upper deck of I-10 near Woodlawn.  There was briefly some concern that the quake may have done additional damage.  Fortunately, that wasn’t the case and the column was subsequently retrofitted with some additional tension rods.

I checked with the folks at TxDOT and they tell me that they sent inspectors out after today’s quake to look at the bridges on state highways in Atascosa County.  Everything checked-out fine.

Local TxDOT officials joined with several dignitaries yesterday to cut the ribbon on a project that widened Loop 1604 near Randolph AFB.  The 17 month, $6.6 million project upgraded 2.5 miles of Loop 1604 from a two-lane “farm” road to a four-lane divided highway.  The project came in on-time and under budget.

Speakers at the ribbon-cutting included US Representative Henry Cuellar.  Cuellar helped secure the federal economic stimulus funding to get the project off the ground.

This section of the loop has been in the news recently.  A project to continue the expansion from its current terminus at Lower Seguin Road to I-10 is planned to start next year.  However, county officials had briefly considered transferring funding from that project to construct the northern set of ramps at US 281 and Loop 1604.  An alternative source of funding was found, however, thus allowing the widening project to continue as planned.

It’s worth noting that this expansion mirrors a similar expansion done on Loop 1604 West nearly two decades ago.  Road improvements tend to be incremental or evolutionary.  The road system San Antonio has today didn’t just drop out of the sky one day.  The project dedicated yesterday upgraded a congested and dangerous two-lane road to a four-lane divided highway with traffic signals.  This configuration is a substantial improvement over the previous road and is more than adequate for the current needs and for those in the foreseeable future, just as the expansion of Loop 1604 south of Braun Road was back in the ’90s.  Will traffic growth eventually render this roadway obsolete?   Maybe.  But building a full-fledged expressway at this location now is unnecessary and would have been an injudicious use of scarce funding, just like doing so out on Loop 1604 West back in the ’90s would have been.

Picture of the Eifel Tower from my latest "trip" to Paris

Lots of people have their Internet compulsions and addictions: Facebook, Farmville, YouTube, eBay, video games, and so on.  My wife is a recovering Pinterest addict.

My web vice is Google Maps Street View.

I’ve always been a spatial kind of guy.  I instinctively know which way is North.  I was telling my mom how to get home from the airport when I was four.  My degree is in Geography.  I have no need for a GPS.

And I love to travel.  Mostly, I’m a it’s-not-the-destination-but-the-journey kind of guy.  I love watching the scenery go by, seeing new places in fast-forward.  Of course, that comes from being a transportation-enthusiast.  Getting from Point A to Point B is often my favorite part of vacations.

So now that I can essentially do that from my desk for a huge chunk of the world using Street View, it can quickly consume a significant quantity of my time.  For instance, the other day I was reading an article in the San Antonio Express-News about the suburban slums around Monterrey, Mexico.  I of course had to find the neighborhood to which they were referring on the map.  Using the description of the location in the article, I had it located on Google Maps in a couple of minutes.  Hmm, I wonder if they have Street View for Mexico?  Well, not for this neighborhood, but hey, there are those blue lines nearby!  I’ll just take a quick look around downtown Monterrey…

Two hours later, I had explored many of the main avenues and expressways of Monterrey as well as the toll road from Monterrey to Nuevo Laredo.  Having visited Nuevo Laredo several times before the drug wars rendered that inadvisable, I had always wondered what the main shopping street looked like further down than the half-dozen or so blocks I had usually plied.  No problem, it’s on Street View.  Uh oh, now I’m on the old two-lane federal highway going back to Monterrey.  Gotta check that out.  It didn’t help that I had the iTunes cranked-up.  I could have kept going all the way to Mexico City if not for a gnawing hunger in my belly and a full bladder.

Similar recent “trips” have taken me to Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris, much of southeastern England, and Tokyo, not to mention a plethora of US cities.

I tried Googling “Street View support groups.”  Nada.  I couldn’t even find anything for “Street View addiction.”  Guess I’m the only one willing to admit I have this affliction.  Here goes…

My name is Brian and I’m a Street View addict.

Don’t judge me– it’s gotta be in the genes.  My three-year old is already showing the signs of having the malady: he loves being in the car, he knows when we missed the turn to go home or to grandma’s, and he can point the direction to my office from nearby streets that he’s never been on.  I don’t dare introduce him to Street View.  Bye-bye Elmo.

Well, gotta go.  Another world city is waiting to be explored during my lunch hour.

If you’re observant, you’ll notice that there have also been left turn lanes built from southbound Loop 1604 that seem to go nowhere and a second turnaround north of Shaenfield that seems to serve no purpose.  Those have been built in anticipation of a future extension of Shaenfield to the east.  The City of San Antonio is currently in the planning stages for that.

The superstreet intersection at Loop 1604 and New Gilbeau opened about a month ago and has provided a noticeable reduction in congestion.  The final element of the current package of improvements along that stretch of Loop 1604 will make changes the SH 151 intersection; it’s due to be completed later this year.  An underpass for SH 151 at Loop 1604 is slated to begin construction next Spring.

RELATED SITE:

• TexasHighwayMan.com – Loop 1604 Superstreet Project

Officials have released a list of the 100 worst traffic conditions in Texas.

Dallas motorists suffer the most highly congested road conditions in Texas, says a recent report from the Texas Department of Transportation.

The state’s top three bottlenecks are all located in Dallas County, according to the 100 Most Congested Roadway Segments in Texas. But while Dallas has the hottest spots, Harris County actually has more of them. The Houston area has 31 on the worst road conditions traffic list while Dallas has 21.

Road conditions for Fort Worth are next in line for headaches, with 15 tight spots, followed by San Antonio with 11 and Austin with 10.

Here are the top 10 most congested roads and their respective counties:

1. SS 366 in Dallas, from I-35E to U.S. 75
2. I-635 in Dallas, from I-35E to U.S. 75
3. U.S. 75 in Dallas, from I-635 to Woodall Rodgers Freeway
4. I-35 in Travis, from SH 71 to U.S. 183
5. I-35W in Tarrant, from I-30 to SH 183
6. U.S. 59 in Harris, from I-10 to SH 288
7. I-35E in Dallas, from I-30 to SH 183
8. I-10 in Harris, from I-45 to U.S. 59
9. I-610 in Harris, from I-10 to I-45
10. I-45 in Harris, from I-10 to I-610

See this interactive map to locate all 100.

Congestion patterns haven’t changed much over the past year, Texas officials say. 

“Finishing or starting construction is probably the number one reason for the shift in ratings,” said Tim Lomax, a researcher with the Texas Transportation Institute, which helped TxDOT develop the list.

“Weather contributed, and the economic recession has generally reduced congestion compared to four years ago,” he said. “But in the last year, construction was primary.”

The Transportation Institute calculates congestion from traffic speeds gathered by NAVTEQ, a firm that collects real time travel information nationwide, and combines that with traffic volume data.

“Texans know that traffic is bad, and these ratings shifts won’t change public opinion,” Lomax said. “The list is important for planning purposes.”

I supose it’s a form of intimidation.  I drive a minivan.  The perpetrators I’ve managed to glimpse are young men suffering, it would seem, from a surfeit of testosterone, who may think I am, in their opinion, a mere female.  But, in fact I am just a middle aged man who does not want to own the road, just use it to get from point A to point B, without having to run the gauntlet, especially in the right hand lane.

You see these young buffoons in traffic more often around nine o’clock on Friday and Saturday evenings when daddy lets them borrow the car.   They travel in packs of four and five, way too fast, weaving all over the road in a form of one-up-manship that will lead, quite likely, to disaster.  What is of concern to me is that they are spreading their lunacy around the clock.

Hey, all I want is to get to work on time.  I drive for maximum MPG not MPH.  There are plenty of other lanes for these chumps to display their machismo, about which I care little except for its potential hazards for me.  Thinning the herd is quite acceptable to me providing innocent bystanders don’t have to go along for the ride.  The biggest source of automobile traffic deaths is one car accidents by cars driven by young males.  I’m OK with this providing they keep to the tradition of being stupid on their own time.  But not on mine.

Heber Springs, Ark., a friendly town of 6,000 that tourists swell to 30,000.

Driving through the pine forests of East Texas, on the way to Central Arkansas, you pass signs for places like New Boston, Pittsburgh, Mount Pleasant and even Paris.

It’s almost like pioneers started running out of names by the time they got to Texas. 

But things get a bit more imaginative once you arrive at the Arkansas border. Names there start off with morphed incarnations like Texarkana, and later dish up tidy permutations such as Arkadelphia. 

The one that snapped me to attention on my trip last weekend was “Okolona.”

You know, Oklahoma’s just a short jog to the west, I thought. Could it be? Is this some sort of an Arkansas localism? Perhaps it was pranksters?  

Nope, not pranksters, a crisp exit sign down the road soon confirmed – Okolona was sure enough real. But where’d the name come from? Does it have anything to do with Oklahoma? I could only wonder.

Later, I checked the web, and it turns out the name is yet another clone. A number of U.S. places share the name, including some in Mississippi and Kentucky.

This site says it’s an Indian name meaning “much bent.” Hmmm … another mystery.

Oklahoma, meanwhile, comes from the Choctaw Indian words okla and humma, which means red people, according to this website.

As interesting as all that is, there was one name that trumped them all. 

Cruising through Central Arkansas on lanes sluicing through thick woods, admiring how the towering trees shot up like ripe green walls along the undulating highway, the strange name suddenly popped up. I looked several times. I could see nothing else.

The sign said, “Toad Suck Park.”

So I dropped that one into Google too. Toad Suck is indeed a community, with a name that’s somewhat of a puzzle.

Yes, OK, I thought in amazement, I’m not in Texas any more.

Look, no frontage roads on this Arkansas freeway! But plenty of tall trees.