FM 1101 project set to start

Hunter Industries and the Texas Department of Transportation will begin a $6.2 million project to widen FM 1101 between state Hwy 46 and Creekside Crossing.
The project adds a center left-turn lane, sidewalks and widened shoulders. The goal is to improve safety and traffic flow for those headed to the schools along the route. Overall project completion is scheduled for the end of the 2017-2018 school year

Crews will schedule work to avoid significant conflicts with school traffic, particularly during the morning rush. Four schools are located along this project: Freiheit Elementary, Canyon Middle, Canyon High and Brilliant Starts Learning Academy. The corridor also has a growing industrial footprint.
For the first few months Hunter Industries will work to widen the road to the north side of the roadway. This will allow traffic to shift over and create more work space when crews shift to working on drain structures to the south side of the road. That shift should occur by March, weather permitting, but should not mean a major change for daily traffic.
Project personnel are making every effort to conduct the heaviest work during the summer months when school is out.

Walnut Avenue to open TODAY (and other New Braunfels updates)

It's been a while since our last update on projects in the New Braunfels area ... and now we've got something kind of major happening today. Here's the scoop:

Walnut Avenue
Lead with the biggest story, right? By the end of business today we'll have Walnut Avenue opened up to traffic. It'll only be one lane in each direction (so, basically, exactly what was out there when we shut things down last year).
Traffic will be using the center lanes to traverse the hill. Crews are still doing concrete work across the project, so we're keeping those outside lanes closed the next several weeks while crews wrap things up.

The center line is striped and traffic cones mark the closed-off outside lanes. Walnut Ave should be ready to open today.

Once concrete work is complete paving crews will lay the final surface of asphalt to give a final product. We hope that final product will be delivered by the end of July.

FM 306
One of the biggest issues along FM 306 near New Braunfels is the traffic load at the intersection of Hoffman Lane - largely due to school in the mornings and in the afternoons.
We currently have a project going between Hoffman and Hunter that's expanding FM 306 to four lanes (plus a center left-turn lane and shoulders large enough for bicycles), and we're right now about one-third the way through this project. By the way, we have another project set to go for bids later this year that will extend this work on out to River Chase.
At any rate, we've been asked about the impact on that approach to Hoffman Elementary School. Here's what we'll have things looking like when we're finished:

Just for comparison, here's what's out there now:

Note only one through lane in each direction and the lack of sidewalks and bike areas ... the finished product will be a huge help to folks driving through the region on the daily.

Hwy 46 at US 281
If you're thinking how embarrassing it must be for us to see so much infrastructure pop up around us faster than it's taken for us to build some simple turnarounds, you're absolutely right. Those turnarounds should have been finished months ago, and we're still docking CRG about $20,000 each month we're not finished. The latest estimates show the project wrapping up before school starts this fall; we plan to do all we can to see this job finished earlier than that, even, if possible.

FM 1101
Most of the utility conflicts that have kept us from doing this work (and, yes, we've been waiting more than a year and a half on this now) are out of the way. At this point the project hinges on some discussions between our higher administrative folks and their counterparts with Hunter Industries. When Hunter bid the project in 2014, they did so under prices valid in 2014. Well, it's been two years and things have changed. Both parties are looking for an equitable middle ground to settle on and allow work to get going.
Once work begins - which we hope will be very soon - we expect about a year and a half of overall construction time.

Comal County projects roundup

It's been a while - like, since at least last year. Isn't it about time we gave a run-down on the happenings in and around Comal County?
Here's a look:

Walnut Hill
To put it simply, Dean Word Company is nearly three-quarters the way done with the project. The most visible portion of the project, though - the full closure of Walnut Avenue between Grandview and Floral - has been stretched even further over the last month. Initially slated to reopen mid-December, we are now looking at waiting for late March to reopen the roadway. The biggest reason here is safety.
The original plan called for opening Walnut Avenue to one lane each way. Concerns of rubber-necking through a canyon with limited sight distances has led project bosses to work with city officials and come to a later opening agreement.
A lot of work remains, but construction is progressing well. Crews have begun setting up a sound wall along the canyon and are finishing up drain structures. Perhaps nicest for those living in the immediate vicinity, cleanup at the top of the hill has begun while crews prepare to do concrete work.


Loop 337 at Ridge Hill
The striping contractor is scheduled to come through early next week to restripe the roadway and provide for a new left-turn lane. We are also working to add a new ditch line to the project and fix the barricades that have occasionally drifted into the travel lanes.

FM 1101
To be completely honest, we're still waiting on a private utility to complete work they began more than a year ago. Current estimates place completion of the utility work sometime this spring. We will then move forward with the project.

US 281 at Hwy 46
The biggest thing to report her is we're more than 80 percent of the way finished with this project. This project has admittedly moved extremely slow and we are assessing the contractor, CRG, appropriate liquidated damages. With the walls nearly complete, dirt crews will begin grading the new turnarounds next week with the aim to start laying asphalt by the middle of the month. We are holding bi-weekly meetings with the contractor to keep them moving, and hope to have work complete in time for summer.

FM 306
Hunter Industries is moving along well, working primarily on drain structures and extensions to existing box culverts. As a relatively new project, we don't have much else to report at this time. This project is scheduled to finish up in 2017.

I-35 ramp reversals
The only thing we really have left at this point is a quick resurfacing of the southbound frontage road. That should eliminate the issues we have with the glare during certain times of the day.

Upcoming projects
Lots of work is coming on the horizon, but here are the highlights:

• Resurfacing of I-35 between Solms Rd and the river. This work should start late spring or early summer. This should only feature overnight work.
• Pedestrian and bike facility improvements along Landa Street. This work will begin this summer.
• Rehabilitate Hwy 46 between I-35 and FM 758. This is an extensive repair job that will start this fall.
• Reconstruct the I-35 bridge at FM 1103 and widen FM 1103 between I-35 and Steele High School. This work is programmed for early 2017.
• Loop 337 expansion. We're actually working to make this a one-piece project rather than complete work in segments as initially planned. We hope to begin work mid-2017.
• Expansion of Hwy 46 in Bulverde. This is currently planned for late 2017.

Upcoming meetings
You're getting everything with this post! Don't miss out on some MAJOR meetings we have coming up. Mark these on your calendar and be sure to join us to give your thoughts on some very important issues:

• Feb. 16, 6p-8p at Eden Hill. Open house forum regarding future work on Loop 337.
• March 1, 6p-8p at the New Braunfels Civic Center. Metropolitan Planning Organization presentation on projects being considered for federal funding.
• March 3, 5p-7p at Smithson Valley High School. Open house forum regarding the expansion of Hwy 46 in Bulverde.
• March 29, 5p-7p at Steele High School. Open house forum regarding future work on FM 1103.

Comal County roundup

If anyone else thinks it been far too long since a run-down on Comal County projects has been posted, well ... so did we. Without further ado:

Walnut Avenue

If you've not heard by now, Walnut Avenue will close between Grandview and Floral for the remainder of the year. This is  more than the daily closures drivers have been seeing with the ongoing utility work that's progressed to the top of the hill. That closure has pushed traffic onto Fredericksburg Road to get around; our detour suggests using Landa Street to Loop 337.

Of course, local residential and business access will be maintained; you'll still be able to reach those businesses along Walnut. Through traffic will be restricted, however.

With the road closed, Dean Word Company will have more open access to widen the road through the canyon portion of this project. There they are building a huge retaining wall on the downhill side of the road, which they'll then backfill with tons (literally!) of dirt. It's called a "mechanically stabilized earth" wall, and will hold up the additional width of the roadway.

This diagram, published by cenews.com, shows how a mechanically stabilized earth wall works. An MSE wall will hold up the expansion portion of Walnut Avenue through the canyon between Grandview and Floral.

Loop 337

The expansion of the bridge over I-35 at Loop 337/Rueckle Road is within a week of being finished and all lanes in use. An elevation issue (of only an inch or two - which is a bigger deal than it sounds like) between the old turnaround bridge and the existing bridge prevented us from opening it when we had hoped a cuople of months ago.

With the specialized crews on site to make appropriate adjustment, we're only a matter of days from having traffic on all lanes of the bridge.

I-35 ramps between FM 306 and Conrads-Kohlenberg

About five months ago, Dan Williams Company began reversing the ramps between FM 306 and Conrads-Kohlenberg. Basically, that means the entrance ramps will be switched to exit ramps, and the exit ramps to entrance ramps.

Crews will be ready for the first big move on this work next weekend. For more, watch the video:

FM 306

At this point, it's almost all bridge work that remains. We've got crews pouring concrete at the overpass near Hunter Road, mainly to form the approach slabs for the bridge deck. Meanwhile, on the overpass near Goodwin Lane, we're preparing to pour the bridge deck itself. We still have a lot of curb work and a median to build, then we'll need to finish tying the second halves of the bridges into the halves that are already constructed.

Hunter Industries wants to be finished with the project by the end of the school year - still ahead of schedule, though later than they'd have initially liked to be finished when work began in 2013.

FM 1101

We are still waiting for utility adjustments to be complete before turning loose Hunter Industries on this project to widen FM 1101 between Hwy 46 and FM 306. This expansion will include a center left-turn lane, sidewalks and a larger shoulder area for safe bicycling.

As of now, crews are expected to be able to start work in April. 

Comal County round-up

Recent weather has pushed back some huge milestones across Comal County - particularly in and around New Braunfels - but big developments are still taking shape. The result is a flurry of activity inside a two-week window, set to start late next week.

Here's a run-down, in no particular order:

Lp 337 (Rueckle Road)

For two months folks have been using a finished product that expanded Lp 337 between I-35 and Altgelt Road, but barricades have remained blocking a portion of the overpass bridge. This has limited traffic from the northbound frontage road to a single left turn lane and traffic crossing the bridge over I-35 to a single lane.

The goal of the project, however, was to expand the bridge to allow for two through lanes plus a left turn lane for traffic coming from Rueckle Road and headed north (or west, depending on your perspective) on Lp 337. That was hampered by a slight elevation difference between what used to be the south-to-north turnaround bridge and the existing overpass bridge. The difference, which is only a matter of an inch or so, was noticed when the concrete barrier was demolished as part of the project requirements.

The specialized subcontractor for the work to correct the elevation difference, which happens to fall right in the middle of the wheelpath of one of the lanes, was scheduled to solve the issue this week. Cold and wet weather has pushed that back, and they are now expected to be working on the bridge by the start of next week.

Once work on the bridge begins we'll need about a week to have everything opened up. Call it a St. Patrick's Day gift.

FM 306

Hunter Industries continues to work toward  completing the expansion of the roadway and construction of overpasses at the UPRR crossings near Hunter Road and Goodwin Lane in time for summer. Right now that's exactly what will happen.

Crews have been pouring concrete to form the concrete barriers along the overpass near Hunter Road and are working to do the same near Goodwin. This may require temporary or sporadic closures as trucks enter or exit the roadway, but nothing lasting or long-term at all. At most, these closures will last 10 minutes.

Hunter is on pace to have the work complete by the end of the school year (and start of the summer river floating season).

FM 1101

The expansion of FM 1101 between Hwy 46 and FM 306 has been on hold nearly six months while we await utilities to be moved out of conflict. The deadline for that is in April, and we'll then release Hunter Industries to begin work.

The project will last about a year and a half, with most of the work happening during the summers of 2015 and 2016. Since three schools are along this work zone, it's critical we reduce our impact during the school year.

The final product will feature a new center left-turn lane, expanded shoulders for bike use and sidewalks.

I-35 ramp reversals

Dan Williams Company is running slightly ahead of schedule and is ready to open the new northbound entrance ramp from FM 306 around St. Patrick's Day. This new on-ramp is located near Conrads-Kohlenberg and will require the current exit to Conrads-Kohlenberg to close. Traffic to Conrads-Kohlenberg will exit FM 306 and pass through the intersection.

Naturally, that means an uptick in traffic at an already stressed intersection. However, the north-to-south turnaround at FM 306 will open - permanently - and the intersection should see some relief.

The new exit ramp, located near FM 306 (designed to capture the truck traffic headed to the WalMart transfer warehouse), is set to open by the first weekend of April.

Meanwhile, Dan Williams is beginning to set up for work on the southbound side. This is about two months ahead of schedule. They have more work to do on the southbound side than they did on the northbound side, so drivers shouldn't expect such an early finish on the southbound side. We initially planned about six months for each side. We are sticking with the six-month schedule on the southbound side for now.

Walnut Avenue

The city of New Braunfels has approved a proposal brought by us on behalf of the contractor, Dean Word Company, to close Walnut Avenue completely between Grandview and Floral avenues. That closure should take place the week after St. Patricks Day.

Once Walnut Avenue is closed, Dean Word will begin expanding the road through the canyon and will install storm drain features on the uphill and downhill sides of the canyon. The phase of work - and the closure - is expected to last about nine months.

The closure will shorten the overall project duration, however, by about six months. Work began earlier this year and will wrap up before the summer of 2016.

U.S. 281 at Hwy 46

We have received occasional calls asking about the progress on this project that constructs turnarounds for U.S. 281 traffic at Hwy 46 in Bulverde.

CRG is the contractor out there, and they are indeed running behind schedule. As is typical in a situation like this, TxDOT is assessing liquidated damages against the contractor to the tune of a little under $1,000 per day. This is the strongest leverage the department has to help motivate a contractor to accelerate production of a project.

Lately the delays on the project have been due to an equipment breakdown that took several weeks to get repaired. Once the machinery that broke down was ready to work again, weather tackled the area and stopped any productive work from happening.

Project managers are pointing to a completion date early this summer, if all goes well.

Projects coming up

We have a lot of projects that are nearing completion - I-10 Huebner, both remaining segments of Wurzbach Parkway, Fred-Med and I-10 Ralph Fair Road should all be finished in the next six months or thereabouts - bringing significant relief to drivers along some of our key corridors.

But that doesn't mean we relax any time soon. Over the next year, we will see a string of projects begin that will address congestion and improve safety along corridors of significant growth now and in the future. Some of these projects have been programmed into the regional budget in advance; four projects are moving forward by virtue of voter-approved Prop 1.

Here's a quick run-down of what's coming up:

UTSA Boulevard

This is part of an $800 million proposal announced more than a year ago - once UTSA Boulevard is developed, it will be turned over to the city of San Antonio. For now, however, the segment between I-10 and Edward Ximines Drive - also known as Spur 53 - is a state-maintained road.

The $9 million project will expand the road to five lanes (two lanes each way plus a center left-turn lane), add a multi-use path better connecting the area to the Leon Creek Greenway, and adds shoulder room that will accommodate bikes. Work will begin once utilities have been properly moved; the latest estimates suggest actual work on the project could begin in 6-8 weeks.

Once work begins the project will last about a year and a half - expect a completed project late 2016.

Loop 1604 at Hwy 151

This project is moving forward as an option to the design-build expansion of Loop 1604 between Bandera and Culebra roads. Williams Brothers Construction is the contractor, and they expect to begin turning dirt in March. Overall completion is slated for the end of 2016.

This project has received more than its share of attention over the last few years; the current iteration - a $45 million effort to connect drivers on Loop 1604 directly to Hwy 151 - includes a direct connector ramp from southbound Loop 1604 to eastbound Hwy 151 and a few operational improvements. The main lanes of Hwy 151 will be brought over Loop 1604 to meet with Alamo Ranch Parkway, allowing traffic headed from westbound Hwy 151 to the Alamo Ranch area to do so without going through the Culebra Road intersection. 

Loop 1604, Culebra to Potranco

Part of the same $800 million package involving UTSA Boulevard, this will expand Loop 1604 to a four-lane expressway with continuous frontage roads to Potranco Road on the far west side of San Antonio.

The project will essentially continue what's already being done between Bandera and Culebra roads, adding non-tolled lanes with overpasses at a few locations. This project is still in the design phases, though it is slated to be finished and ready for bidders early summer. We could have contractors on board as early as July, which means construction will begin in the fall.

This project will take more than two years to complete and has a similar timeline to the expansion of Loop 1604 between Bandera and Culebra roads. That project started early 2014 and is set to wrap up late 2016.


FM 1101

This is a little north of most San Antonians' wheelhouse ... but it's a road that goes through three separate school zones in New Braunfels. This project focuses on the stretch between Hwy 46 and FM 306 on the northeast side of town.

The $7.6 million project is also waiting on utilities to be moved so it can begin, which will also happen this spring. Work will take somewhere around a year and a half once it starts. The finished product will hold the same single lane in each direction as currently exists, but it will add a center left-turn lane. Also included in the project are sidewalks and bike lanes - critical features to help school-goers travel safely along the growing corridor.

I-10 at Old Fred Road

Moving forward, this project will be dubbed (on this blog, at least) the "Old Fred Road" project. The $29.4 million project comes from the recent Proposition 1 vote and will construct a new overpass at Old Fredericksburg Road northwest of San Antonio. The finished project will see the main lanes of I-10 over a new crossover that connects Old Fredericksburg Road with the westbound side of the highway.

Additionally, the frontage roads between Ralph Fair Road and Fair Oaks Parkway will be converted to one-way. A public meeting is scheduled to allow folks in the area a face-to-face opportunity with engineers designing the project. That meeting will be Thursday, February 19 from 5 until 7 p.m. at the Spring Creek United Methodist Church.

We are scheduled to seek a contractor this summer; actual construction is likely to begin toward the end of the year.

Highway 151 at I-410

Of the four Prop 1 projects announced for our area this year, this project seems to be the least understood. The official description called for expanding I-410 by a lane in each direction, and this project will do that - at least between Hwy 151 and West Military Drive.

The project, which carries a price tag of about $75 million, will also add direct connector ramps from eastbound Hwy 151 to northbound I-410 and from southbound I-410 to westbound Hwy 151. These are strategically selected ramps, focusing on the heaviest traffic flows at this intersection.

Why just two ramps, though? Why not all eight? Highway interchanges are expensive, often reaching north of $250 million. That's right ... a quarter of a billion dollars. Folks at home may recall Prop 1 gave the entire state an added $1.7 billion ... and $250 million would be nearly double the San Antonio District's share of that money.

The quick way to explain what's happening is that we're building what we can afford. Folks at home can commiserate a bit - how often do we buy the slightly used Honda rather than splurge on the BMW off the lot? How often do we settle for that 32-inch TV when we really want the 78-incher curved-screen, ultra high-definition TV?

The two ramps we're building aren't anything to scoff at, to be sure - these will get that northwest corridor moving in ways it only dreams of today. But we are, ultimately, building what we can afford right now. It's road building on a budget.

The project will be let for bidding later this year; we expect actual work to begin, at the earliest, the end of 2015.


U.S. Highway 90

The stretch of U.S. Highway 90 between I-410 and Loop 1604 on the far west side of San Antonio just might be the last remaining stretch of expressway in San Antonio proper featuring a two-way frontage road, and we want to change that.


Thanks to Prop 1, we are moving forward with a plan that will convert the frontage roads to one-way - a safety measure that's been shown to reduce the fatal and injury crashes by as much as 57 percent on the frontage roads themselves and an astounding 85 percent at intersections - along the entire stretch. This two-for-one project (we're combining two projects into one, essentially) will also develop some improvements to the intersection at U.S. 90 and Loop 1604. Both projects round out the four listed as proposed for Prop. 1 funding.

The $26 million project is set to let for bidding in May, which means we should be underway late this fall. Overall project duration will be a year and a half.

U.S. 281 North Improvements

The expansion of U.S. 281 to an expressway north of Loop 1604 (and on to the Comal County line) has been in the works for about 20 years at this point, and has hit its fair share of rocks on the road to development.

Last year (that is, January 2014) TxDOT joined with Bexar County, the city of San Antonio and the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority to announce a package of $800 million in projects over the next several years. Those projects include the UTSA expansion mentioned above, and it includes managed-lanes projects on I-10, U.S. 281 and a non-tolled expansion of Loop 1604.

The ARMA is taking the lead on this project and is managing communication for its development. The environmental impact study has recently wrapped up, and the ARMA is nearing readiness to move this project to construction phases. More information, including a project schematic, may be found on the ARMA Web page.

Comal County roundup

One of the adverse effects of holiday-shortened months and having a lot going on elsewhere is an utter lack of updates on project in outlying areas. In this case, the several major projects in Comal County - particularly around New Braunfels - have been moving right along and we need to tell you about it.

FM 306

Last week, just before Thanksgiving, Hunter Industries set bridge support beams over the railroad crossing near Hunter Road to form the backbone for the eastbound bridge, then reworked the intersection at Hunter Road.

While this meant a minor traffic nuisance for the two days crews were out there, it marks another major step toward getting finished with the project overall. Hunter's plan is to have the Hunter Road crossing finished first, though crews will continue working on the overpass at Goodwin as well. Once the overpass near Hunter Road is finished focus will shift to the Goodwin overpass.

The hope is to have the overpass near Hunter Road finished and in use around the New Year, and to have the overpass near Goodwin Lane finished near the end of the school year. Overall project completion is scheduled before the end of the school year.

Loop 337

Another Hunter Industries project, we're falling victim to weather right now. If Hunter Industries had their way, we'd be finished with everything by now ... but cold temperatures and wet weather (much-needed wet weather!) has dampened our ability to lay asphalt and paint the roadway.

Crews were scheduled to do the last bit of asphalt and all the roadway striping last week, but weather pushed that work back. As soon as we get a stretch of weather that's warm enough and dry enough to finish things out, we'll do that.

Again, we were hoping to have the project finished by now (even though we have until January to finish up), and we're trying to have the work done very soon.

I-35 ramps

The project to reverse the entrance and exit ramps between Conrads-Kohlenberg and FM 306 is underway, with Dan Williams Company working already to construct the new northbound ramps. The overall plan is to develop the northbound side first, then move over to the southbound side. Each side should take about six months.

This project is one of our top generators of emails right now - there are several who seem concerned about the length of the northbound entrance ramp from FM 306. The barricade set up in the shoulder area has taken away the shoulder, which was being improperly used by traffic as a defacto acceleration lane.

Here's the thing: entrance ramps are actually designed so that traffic can get to appropriate highway speeds before reaching the lanes of the highway. Ramps are designed to help accelerate - they are acceleration lanes, in and of themselves. 

But that's not how they're being treated. 

At any rate, folks believe a safety hazard exists so we have our engineers digging through options. We've got four options being examined, and we hope to have settled on one of those four by the end of the week.

Walnut Avenue

Right now the work on Walnut Avenue, between Kerlick and Landa, is being done by NBU and is all utilities work. NBU reported this morning they are on schedule to finish their work by the start of summer. TxDOT work will begin early 2015.

FM 1101

Right now this one is all utilities. Specifically, a certain telephone company has lines in the way and we're waiting for them to move out of the way. Hopefully those lines may be moved before we get started (early 2015) so we don't encounter any delays.

US 281 turnarounds

Nearly a year ago we gave the go-ahead to CRG to begin constructing turnarounds on U.S. 281 at Hwy 46. Almost immediately after setting up the work area, CRG realized they wouldn't be able to construct the project the way they had bid it. They halted work and began acquiring the resources (including equipment and personnel) to construct the project the way we designed it.

That process was lengthy ... and CRG went back to work just this fall. As of the end of November they've finished about half the work scheduled for the project, and they are on target to finish the work before the end of the school year.

As for the delays, those are being appropriately handled between the contractor and our area office.

Comal County round-up

Lots going on in and around Comal County in terms of highway projects ... here's a look:

Seguin Avenue

Last week (Wednesday) we formally and ceremoniously celebrated the completion of the Seguin Avenue underpass. On hand were representatives of Austin Bridge & Road, the contractor who built this project. As you may recall, this is the same contractor who built the original project back in 1935.

The event was hosted by the city of New Braunfels, and Mayor Barron Casteel reminded folks just how long the project had been in the making - at least since he was still in school, referring to his college days. He thanked Rep. Doug Miller, who helped secure the funds for the project through the Texas Proposition 12 grant from the Texas State Legislature.

With other civic leaders - those from the Daughters of the American Revolution, the New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce and others - around, the underpass was toasted. TxDOT District Engineer Mario Jorge lauded some of the engineering of the new underpass - including the nearly 800,000-pound steel structure that now carries rail traffic safely over Seguin Avenue and the 140,000 gallon detention pond under the roadway that will store stormwater to keep the road open through all conditions.

The Loop

Hunter Industries will close portions of the intersection of Loop 337 and Altgelt Lane over the next two weekends. These closures will keep one lane going in each direction, but will squeeze traffic quite a bit. Folks are advised to find alternate routes where they can.

This will allow road builders to reconstruct the intersection. Once this work is complete (mid-September) traffic on Loop 337 between I-35 and Altgelt will shift onto the new asphalt on the south side of the road. Crews will only need a few weeks to rebuild the road on the north side of the road, and work should be ready to wrap up before Halloween.

FM 306

Another Hunter Industries project, this one hit a snag a few weeks ago in waiting for some utilities to be moved. AT&T has been on site regularly, and report they should have their work finished by mid-September. Once that work is finished, Hunter's bridge crews will go to work on the drain structures at the Hunter Road overpass.

While Hunter waits for AT&T to get out of the way, they are working on embankments and structures for the future eastbound lanes of the bridge. They've also got the turnarounds nearly complete at Coleman and at Goodwin Lane, and local traffic may begin using those immediately. This should be helping traffic move through the project a little more smoothly.

If it weren't for the utility adjustments, this project may be finished in time for the holidays. Instead, we're still on pace to be finished early in the new year - which is still ahead of our initial schedule.

U.S. 281 Spring Branch

The temporary (and, by temporary, we mean at least 2-3 years) fix for the U.S. Post Office problem is underway. Hunter Industries (yes, those guys again) is building a "detour" around the building; the northbound lanes of U.S. 281 will simply scoot left, then right again around the building.

Crews are also finishing up work north of the post office, completing the future northbound lanes of the highway. If all goes according to plan, we'll be moving northbound traffic onto the northbound lanes at the Coyote Ridge area and up through to FM 306. As the southbound lanes are finished - traffic in both directions are using the southbound side for most of the project - this will effectively split traffic to its final path.

To be clear: we won't have two lanes in each direction until work is complete (end of the year). Until then, we'll have a single lane each way, but those lanes will be on the final location of the roadway.

On the south end of the project (more or less from FM 311 south to the river) we're hoping to have traffic moved over nearly as quick; we have a few utilities to adjust and some finishing touches to some bridge structures to wrap up.

Again, all told ... we're hoping to be finished with this project around the end of the year.

Upcoming projects

• The Walnut Avenue expansion - we're calling it the "Walnut Hill" job - should start up this fall (likely late fall, like November). Right now we're still getting utilities cleared out of the way.
• The I-35 Conrads/Kohlenberg project - which will realign the entrance and exit ramps between FM 306 and Conrads/Kohlenberg on the northeast end of the county - could start as early as October.
• FM 1101 between Hwy 46 and FM 36 is getting a continuous center turn lane, sidewalks and some space for bikes (handy with three schools along the route). Though the project can start in November, we're expecting the start date to perhaps push back to January. Right now utilities are being moved.

Comal County roundup

It's been a few weeks since we've looked at the projects in and around Comal County ... time to get everyone updated and up-to-speed. We'll try to keep things to the point....

I-35 Selma

This project is winding down, and should be complete - totally complete - by the end of July. Representatives of Dan Williams Company have indicated they'll have crews working on the turnarounds at FM 3009 over the next two weeks and hope to have it in play by mid-July. Right now their focus is squarely on the main lanes of I-35, which are being resurfaced and striped with overnight work.

The turnaround at FM 1518 also remains, but should be built along with the turnaround at FM 3009.

Questions have abounded about the timing on this project. We are examining the impacts of events beyond the control of the contractor (including design issues and weather-related delays), and may credit that time to the contractor as appropriate. Given the circumstances, TxDOT engineers doing these reviews indicate they may conclude the contractor was able to successfully perform the work within the allotted time (adjusted for these delays).

That's a round-about, technical way of saying the project is still running on time.

Loop 337

Mark your calendars for July 7. It's that date that Hunter Industries has set aside to close the driveway for the truck stop on Loop 337 so they can rebuild the road in that area. The closure should last only a few short weeks, and when that work is done the contractor plans to move traffic onto the new asphalt. The current asphalt will be torn up to allow the road to be rebuilt.

All told, Hunter is aiming at having the road reconstruction finished somewhere around the end of August or early September. If that happens, the whole project (which expands the overpass bridge at Loop 337 and I-35 to handle the added capacity brought, in part, by the truck stop) could be done as early as October. That would be at least three months earlier than anticipated.

There are factors that could knock that goal back a bit, but for right now that's the target.

Seguin Avenue

The rock face facade on the retaining walls has taken a little longer than anticipated. Austin Bridge Company hoped to be finished with the project last week, but they are looking now at being done by the end of July. That's not just an optimistic aim, either. With most of the infrastructure finished up - as well as the last pieces of the retaining wall facade being put in place - all that will remain by the end of next week is a final layer of asphalt and pavement markings. Well, that and a few other adjustments.

Bottom line: this project will be complete by the end of July.

FM 306

Most are well aware of the overpasses at the two railroad crossings. Hunter Industries has also tweaked the traffic signals at Common Street, optimizing traffic flow.

We're dealing with some conflicts with AT&T in the area still, and that's slowing the pace a bit. Even still, the folks at Hunter are aiming for early 2015 to be finished with everything. That still looks extremely doable.

FM 1101

This project was just awarded to Hunter Industries, and expands FM 1101 between Hwy 46 and the extension of FM 306 on the north side of New Braunfels.

We're aiming at early fall to begin work. This will go through two - two - school zones, so folks commuting to those schools should be aware of changing conditions as we begin work.

U.S. 281 Comal

The biggest question here is how we're going to get around the U.S. Post Office in Spring Branch. Once that question is answered, the project will be able to wrap up pretty quickly. In fact, we're eyeing a completion date of this fall - something like nine months earlier than we had planned at the start of the project.

That said, we still need to figure out the Post Office issue. We've got a couple of ideas on the table, but we need to iron out the costs associated with these plans. We're doing so with the constant reminder these solutions are temporary. When the USPS is able to vacate the building, we'll go back and finish the job as it was originally planned.

U.S. 281 and Hwy 46

Those out in Bulverde know of the barricades we've got in place for a project that adds turnarounds on U.S. 281 at Hwy 46. CRG - that's the name of the contractor - has halted work for a while because they're trying to renegotiate the way the project is constructed. We're doing our best to work with them and get them working as quickly as possible.

Because work could resume any day now, we can't remove the barricades that were put in place and restripe the roadway. That would cost us quite a bit of money, and could have to be undone in a simple matter of days. We know it's frustrating to see the barricades without much going on, but for now we're a bit stuck.

Walnut Avenue

Back to New Braunfels for a moment....

The Walnut Avenue job is still in the middle of a 180-day delay to allow for utilities to be adjusted. We're aiming right now at getting work going early 2015. Between now and then, folks may see utilities crews out there adjusting lines as appropriate. At least, we hope that's seen by folks.

I-35 at FM 306

Another new project to be awarded is a project that will realign the exit and entrance ramps along I-35 between FM 306 and Conrads/Kohlenberg north of New Braunfels. This project has been awarded to The Dan Williams Company, and is slated to begin (most likely) early 2015. We've got a bit of a delay built into the project for utility adjustments. The project is pretty straight-forward, and should take less than a year to construct.

Development beyond San Antonio

*photos will be posted tomorrow

The biggest disadvantage to being the sole poster for an organizational blog like this is when that sole poster is out of town (or state) for a period of time, the posts stop altogether.

So, apologies for going dark over the last three weeks. To get us back up and running, and to get everyone on the same page again, we'll start with a (really long) post about projects beyond the city of San Antonio. So, if you're here to read about projects in Kendall, Guadalupe or Comal county, enjoy.

FM 1101

The Texas Transportation Commission in April approved funds for a contract to expand FM 1101 on the northeast side of New Braunfels.

Hunter Industries - who is building three other major projects we'll discuss in a bit - won the project with a bid of $6,154,722.50. That was nearly 6 percent under our own engineers' estimate of the construction costs for this project. (Total project cost is expected to be around $8 million.)

So ... what are we doing? We're expanding the road to include a continuous left-turn lane. We're also adding bike lanes and sidewalks. Now, this will stretch between Hwy 46 and FM 306, essentially. Work will begin this summer, and we'll certainly be working in the school zones through the school year.

Those are the facts right now; the goal right now is just to let folks know this project is coming. More details will be available when the project gets underway.

FM 306

This is another Hunter Industries project (including FM 1101, this is 2 of 4).

The contractor opened the bridge at Goodwin late last month. The bridge at Hunter Lane was opened earlier this week. Moving forward, this means traffic on this portion of FM 306 will never have to stop to wait for a train again. That's a thing completely of the past. Granted, it's only one lane each way. But that's because we've only got the westbound bridges built, and for now we're using them for two-way traffic. Work on the eastbound bridges started earlier this week.

Now, this shift to the overpasses has been accompanied by a few headaches, particularly at Common Street. We're working with the city of New Braunfels to adjust the traffic signals at Common to allow for optimal traffic flow.

That said, we did get a left turn lane open for westbound traffic at Hunter Road. That means folks headed to Gruene are able to get there by turning left at Hunter. The contractor is working on getting the section of road between I-35 and Lifehouse opened up to four lanes (two each way).

Overall completion is still on target for January 2015.

Loop 337 (Rueckle Road)

Seguin Avenue

Trains are using the new bridge and the shoo-fly detour has been removed. We are still having occasional overnight closures of Seguin Avenue at the UPRR crossing while painters touch up the bridge; previous paint work has been spoiled a bit by the rains during recent weeks.

The contractor, Austin Bridge and Road - the same company that built the original railroad underpass in the 1930s - is is busily working on the sidewalks and driveways on the west side of the underpass while stone masons place the rock face for the retaining walls. Remember: these stones for the wall face are the same stones that comprised the original retaining wall.

If all goes well, the latest ABR schedule shows work to be finished at the end of this month.

U.S. 281 Comal

Representatives with the U.S. Post Office held a public meeting this week to discuss potential new locations for the Spring Branch Post Office, which is sitting in the middle of what will eventually be the northbound main lanes of U.S. Highway 281.

The property the post office sits on belongs to the Texas Department of Transportation, as it was acquired through the normal right-of-way acquisition process. Since then, the USPS has been working with the folks at TxDOT to develop an agreeable solution to the problem; that is, our road is supposed to go where their building is currently sitting.

Among the solutions - all temporary, until the Post Office can be moved to another location - is a plan that would create a small "detour" for the northbound lanes through (or near) the west parking lot of the Post Office. This is a detour that will remain in place until the originally planned roadway can be built.

To be absolutely clear: this project is not delayed at this point. In fact, the project is running ahead of schedule. Credit Hunter Industries for that. Even with the situation around the Post Office, this project should finish well ahead of the scheduled completion date.

That said, local folks should note we'll finish with the detour in place, and we'll have to come back with a separate project to build the originally planned northbound lanes.

Questions about the relocation of the USPS building should be directed to Sandra A. Rybicki, Real Estate Specialist for the U.S. Postal Service. Her email address is sandra.a.rybicki@usps.gov.

Hwy 39 Ingram

About two weeks ago, our area engineer in Kerrville reported to the Ingram City Council regarding the progress Relmco Construction is making on Highway 39. Here are his notes from that report:

Material is being removed from the Loop Road. No more material will be stockpiled in this area.

We have stepped up dust control along the project. Water truck is on project and is shooting water to help with dust. (This is an issue we deal with on each of our projects, and it's often difficult to balance the need to keep dust down with the need to conserve water in the middle of a major drought....)

We are going to install some temporary paving on the Loop to improve aesthetics and help with dust and tracking of material. 

Last month was the first month for a while the contractor did not fall further behind schedule. We are looking at hurrying along some of the paving work west of the Johnson Creek Bridge to get this area done before school and the arts and crafts fair.

I-10 frontage road - Seguin

This is a project that is entirely funded - that's 100 percent! - by non-TxDOT funds. A private developer fronted some money, as did the economic development group in Seguin, to build a frontage road between Hwy 46 and FM 464 on the west end of Seguin.

The project continues to move forward on schedule, and should wrap up by the end of summer.