Snippet of schematic showing I-10 at Loop 410

A few years ago, I had schematics for most of the area’s freeways on my website.  They were rather crude, so a couple of years ago, I embarked on a project to upgrade them.  I got just one done (I-10 West) when I realized that the process of creating and maintaining them– especially given all the changes brought about by the massive amount of construction the past few years– just made them unwieldy and there was no way I would ever be able to get them all done.  So when I updated my site earlier this year, I dropped that lone schematic while I investigated a different method of doing them.  Finally, I think I have settled on a design that is substantially easier for me to put together and should be even easier to keep up-to-date, and one that is, frankly, easier to decipher and more informative than the old ones were.  Yesterday, I posted the first one, which also happens to be I-10 West.  Take a gander and let me know what you think.

• I-10 West Schematic

In addition, I’m going to use the videos to update my exit lists (much easier to do from a video than trying to write them down at 65 mph <g>) and also to build the new lane schematics (see the previous parenthetical note).  I hope to get those done in conjunction with each video, although I haven’t done I-10′s yet.

To keep the clips within the YouTube guidelines (and to make them a little more interesting), the playback will be at double-speed (or even 4x for the longest ones.)  I opted not to put a soundtrack over them; everyone has their idea of perfect “driving music”, so crank-up whatever you like to listen to when viewing them!

Happy New Year everyone!

Since Thanksgiving, I’ve been working almost daily on the big upgrade to my website, and I’m happy to announce that it’s done and now online!

Here is an overview of the changes:

• Updated format: Gone are the “Fisher Price” colors of the old site, influenced by the release of Windows XP around the time the previous site debuted (mid 1995.)  The new color theme is a mix of grays and black.
• Reorganized: I reorganized some parts of the site to be a little more logical.  There are now four main areas: Texas, San Antonio, Miscellany, and Germany (the latter actually being a link to my other website GettingAroundGermany.info, which will be upgraded within the next month or so), with pages dropped into those respective buckets as appropriate.  There is now also a seperate section for non-freeway roads in San Antonio (which I hope to expand over the coming months).
• Improved navigation: There are now what I hope are more intuitive menus, including pull-down menus at the top for the entire site divided by the four major areas, and a left hand navigation area specific for the section of the site you’re currently browsing.
• Updated content: Most of the content on the site has been refreshed and updated with the latest information, including some updated graphics.  Only the photo galleries and some exit list changes remain; I hope to have those done in the next couple of months.  I also hope to add a few new pages, including ones about SH130, Bandera Rd., and the US 281/Loop 1604 interchange project.  In addition, some obsolete pages about completed projects have removed.

So come on over, take a look, and let me know what you think.

http://www.texashighwayman.com

However, the blessings of time-off for the holidays and some personal leave will allow me to completely update and overhaul my site, hopefully by New Year’s Day. In addition to updating all the information, I will be improving the design and format, dropping some obsolete pages, and slightly re-organizing the remaining pages to be more logical and easier to navigate. My companion site about Germany will see a similar face lift shortly thereafter.

So let me offer my apologies for allowing my site to go stale.  I hope you’ll enjoy the new site!

New TransGuide website

System repairs and upgrades also coming

In addition to the website improvement, TxDOT also has awarded contracts for long-overdue maintenance of TransGuide’s field equipment.  I can’t tell you how many lane control signals and dynamic message signs are out of order, so news of these contracts is welcome.  Once the initial repair backlog is cleared, which is expected by the end of the year, the contractors will focus on preventive maintenance, upgrades to older and obsolete equipment, and maintaining a 95% uptime for all equipment.  TxDOT has budgeted $1.5 million annually for maintenance, although that amount will vary depending on needs and funding availability.

Links:

• Current TransGuide site
• Preview of new site
• Information on the website improvements

New airport website

Two local transportation-related websites have gotten or are about to get long-overdue overhauls.  First, sometime last month, San Antonio International Airport launched their vastly improved website.  Besides being much more professional-looking, the new website is substantially easier to navigate, is less cluttered than the old one, and just works better overall.  Along with the new airport site is a companion site called ”SAOnTheFly“, which is dedicated solely to the award-winning concessions program at the airport.  It’s here that I found the feature I like best– the very slick interactive terminal maps.  Congratulations to those involved in these new sites!

Another site getting a much-needed makeover soon is the TransGuide website.  Visiting their website, you’ll see a big “TransGuide website upgrade coming end of October 2009” banner with a “beta” preview of the site already online alongside the soon-to-be “legacy” site.  I’ll have more details of the new TransGuide site on a future posting.