Construction and closures Roads: Babcock Road intersection Medical Drive South Texas Medical Center widening
by Brian
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Medical/Babcock plans
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.