Tuesday, January 3

Three major closures this weekend

Earlier today we took to Twitter to discuss a major closure on I-35 at New Braunfels Avenue, which will close all lanes of I-35 for most of the weekend. Well, all but Saturday evening - when crews will take a break from work to stay out of the way of traffic headed to the Spurs game that night.
The closure is the first of a handful that will take place over the next year as crews replace the old bridge, which sustained damage more than a year ago when hit by a big rig truck. While we're fixing it, we've decided to upgrade the thing as well - making it wider, higher and modernizing the look just a bit.
This weekend's closure starts 9 p.m. Friday and runs through 5 a.m. Monday, with a break between 4:30 p.m. and midnight Saturday while the Spurs take on the Hornets. I mean, hey ... it's the Spurs, right?
Anyway, here's the broadcast from today:

But that's not the only closure we've got this weekend that'll impact your drive, if you're planning to be out and about. We have two more:

151-410
This isn't a huge one, but if you're traveling at night and need to get to a local destination at the intersection of Hwy 151 and I-410 this may put a damper on things.
We'll have the westbound frontage road of Hwy 151 closed between I-410 and Ingram Road Saturday night into Sunday morning. Work will begin 9 p.m. Saturday and run until 9 a.m. Sunday so crews can pour concrete overhead. Traffic will need to use West Military and Potranco Road to get around the closure. You'll still have access to the businesses in the area, but it won't be quite as convenient.
The big traffic movement that will be changed with this is going from I-410 to westbound Hwy 151 - which uses this frontage road. Folks looking to do this will also be moved to West Military and Potranco - which means those intersections will be slow going.
The good news: This is all overnight and is one night only.

151-1604
Williams Brothers Construction is trying to place final asphalt surfaces on that area as Hwy 151 meets Loop 1604, and this weekend should be their opportunity. It also means folks should just avoid the area as much as they can. Here's the schedule, so if you do venture out you know what you'll be getting yourself into:
(Note: the original post had the closures written out; we made a quick tutorial video instead so the closure info is a bit more clear.)

Take note again: this area will not be fun to drive through this weekend. Please warn your neighbors (ahem, please share this info via NextDoor and Facebook!!) and plan to find something to do at home, if you can, rather than be out and about driving through this.
*UPDATE: This closure will be pushed back, probably to next week, due to cold temps forecast for the weekend. Asphalt work requires temps 50 degrees and rising, and we're projected to be colder than that (especially with windchill) until Monday.

Because we know you'll ask
Since we've brought up the 151-1604 intersection many are wondering about our plan at Westwood Loop and Hwy 151/Alamo Ranch Pkwy.
We'll post more details later this week on the long-term plan. In the short run, expect to see crews out there tomorrow (Wednesday) restriping some of the road between Westwood Loop and the southbound frontage road of Loop 1604. These new stripes will:

  • Eliminate the option to turn right onto Westwood Loop when you're headed west from Hwy 151
  • Eliminate the option to turn left into Santikos from the frontage road portion of Alamo Ranch Parkway coming off the Lp 1604 frontage road (those of you driving the area know what we're talking about)
  • Force that left lane on the eastbound side of Alamo Ranch Parkway to enter Hwy 151 in the left entrance lane
  • Offer the right lane of eastbound Alamo Ranch Parkway the option to enter Hwy 151 (via the right entrance lane) or continue to the southbound frontage road of Loop 1604
Again, we'll have more details published later this week (with pictures!), but do expect to see striping crews out there tomorrow.