No project currently active in the San Antonio district elicits more inquiries right now than does the improvement of I-35 between Loop 1604 and FM 3009. The project is in its 20th month of activity and is winding down to total completion.
Posts on the project earlier this year promised the project would be finished "by the end of the school year". At the time those declarations were made, that was indeed the target. Well, the school year has ended ... and work continues.
Complications with equipment and resources, coupled with questions regarding the design of the center median barrier near Cibolo Creek, have pushed our overall completion back a little more than a month beyond what was expected.
So ... what's being done and what is left to do? Let's break it down area-by-area....
Exit and entrance ramps
The northbound exit ramp to Olympia Parkway was the last exit to be finished up, and was completed in the last week or so. As for other ramps on the project....
The ramps between FM 1518 and Schertz Parkway have long been adjusted for efficiency. The northbound dual-lane exit to FM 3009 is finished. The northbound exit to Forum Parkway - the braided ramp running over the ramps from Loop 1604 onto northbound I-35 - is finished, as are the ramps from Loop 1604 running underneath.
Main lane resurfacing
This was a particular portion of the project that needed to be done in order to help with the glare issue we had on the lane striping. Daily commuters will be familiar with the way the sun hit some of the old and new striping at certain times of the day. This glare led to some confusion about actual lane alignments from time to time. We tried a number of solutions to the issue, but ultimately it's the resurfacing work that provides the real fix.
With the main lanes resurfaced - which is being finished up right now, and will last through next week - the new lane striping will clearly delineate the lanes at all times of the day.
So, what kept us from doing this sooner? The center median barrier. We needed to have that finished before we could lay the final surface of asphalt, and we ran into a few snags in the process of finishing that last stretch of barrier near Cibolo Creek. Now the barrier is done, we're in business and finishing up.
Frontage road resurfacing
We're all done with this! In fact, crews have recently removed all of our portable barrier and traffic is flowing freely.
Turnarounds
Ah, the turnarounds. We have four turnarounds on this project. The first was on Loop 1604 at Lookout Road, and it's been done for about a year. We have a south-to-north turnaround at FM 1518, and we have two turnarounds at FM 3009.
Well, the north-to-south turnaround at FM 3009 was finished and put into use earlier this year. The thought at the time was the contractor would then be able to focus on the south-to-north turnaround, but the concrete crews involved with that work were needed elsewhere.
With little else remaining to complete, crews are now working on the remaining turnaround at FM 3009, and some are also working on the turnaround at FM 1518. The contractor's remaining crews are dedicated to these areas, and we expect them to wrap up in July.
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Showing posts with label FM 1518. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FM 1518. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 10
Thursday, January 30
I-35 SAMMC, I-35 Selma projects plugging along
The intent today was to post a video of the I-35 SAMMC project, showing the detour route on the northbound I-410 connector to northboung I-35 ... but the camera doesn't want to work, so that didn't happen. That also means there's no available up-to-date pictures of the project (nor are there any of the I-35 Selma project), so we'll have to stick with the good, old-fashioned art of writing....
I-35 Selma
Paving crews are working on specific locations on Loop 1604 (between Pat Booker Road and Lookout Road), working in the shoulders and generally leaving travel lanes alone. That's going to change Tuesday, Feb. 4, when crews repave the frontage road from about the IHOP restaurant to the Red Robin restaurant.
For that work the frontage road will close for the full day - project managers responsible for the paving are saying it will take a full 10-hour shift to accomplish - and traffic will be diverted onto the Loop 1604 entrance ramp. Drivers looking to get to stores at The Forum at Olympia Parkway may still enter the shopping center at the IHOP.
Meanwhile, the general contractor is keeping his focus on the exit and entrance ramps he's working on. This includes the northbound exit ramp to FM 1518, which is closed right now and targeted to be reopened in March. Traffic headed to FM 1518 has been using the Olympia Parkway exit and doesn't need to pass through traffic signals to reach its destination.
Other ramps impacted by work are the northbound exit to Olympia Parkway, which remains open while crews work in the shoulder area. One lane of the northbound I-35 frontage road is closed for this work, which is adding a lane to the exit ramp. The other ramp being worked on is the southbound entrance ramp from Evans Road. That entrance ramp is closed, but traffic is able to enter the southbound main lanes of I-35 before reaching Forum Parkway and without going through additional intersections.
Once these three ramps are finished, crews are expected to move to the remaining priorities on the project - including the south-to-north turnaround at FM 3009 and sidewalks. Meanwhile, concrete crews are staying busy building concrete traffic barrier at a handful of locations along the project.
I-35 SAMMC
The first thing to know about this project - and, really, the most important thing to know - is the posted speed limit is 55 miles per hour. TxDOT staff driving the area set cruise control at 55 MPH and watch cars blow by at rates of speed higher than 70 MPH.
Again: The posted speed limit from Randolph Boulevard to George Beach is 55 miles per hour. San Antonio Police Department and other law enforcement agencies are routinely patroling the area, and they will let you know the speed limit has dropped. That message may cost you some money; this message is free. Decide now which one you'd rather pay attention to....
That's not the only change to traffic in the area. The speed limit change is "old news" ... we announced that back in mid-November. More recently we've put in place a "detour" route on the northbound I-410 connector to northbound I-35.
The connector feels a lot more like a main lane, really, because it stays at ground level. It doesn't bridge over much of anything; it is, however, just a single lane. It always has been, in fact. In that respect, we haven't changed anything about what traffic experiences out there. We still have a single lane connecting northbound I-410 to northbound I-35.
However, we closed the entrance ramp near Greatfare Road. It's the ramp that captures traffic from Binz-Engelman and the industrial facilities in the area. The traffic load on the ramp is relatively minor - mostly truck traffic during off-peak hours - but the elimination of the ramp has, for now, made a huge difference in the efficiency of traffic flow. We'll call it addition by subtraction for the time being.
Beyond that, we've got excavators preparing to expand the southbound main lanes at Rittiman Road; we've got crews building up the support structures for the future connector from southbound I-35 onto southbound I-410; we've got crews clearing the way and building support structures for ramp improvements near Randolph Boulevard. At this point the work is moving on pace to finish the project as projected at the end of 2016.
For now, though, TxDOT staff on the project and the workers building the road have one united plea for drivers: Please slow down and drive more carefully.
This means putting away the cell phones and paying attention to what's happening. We've had a number of crashes in the area - almost all due to the speed of drunk or unattentive drivers - that could easily have become extremely tragic. In one case, a car was discovered crashed into some steel bars crews work with daily. Those steel bars were some 50-60 feet away from the roadway, which was a 45 MPH curved ramp. The driver would have had to be traveling at an extreme rate of speed or would have had to deliberately try to hit the rebar in order to accomplish what was done.
The scariest part of that? Had the crash not happened during the very early hours of morning - had the crash occurred during regular working hours - no fewer than two workers would have likely been hit by the car.
Please remember: these work zones are our office. We have the same desire everyone else holds to return to our families safely each day after work. Please help us accomplish that goal by slowing down and paying close attention. Don't tolerate drunk driving, and don't allow anyone to text while driving.
I-35 Selma
Paving crews are working on specific locations on Loop 1604 (between Pat Booker Road and Lookout Road), working in the shoulders and generally leaving travel lanes alone. That's going to change Tuesday, Feb. 4, when crews repave the frontage road from about the IHOP restaurant to the Red Robin restaurant.
For that work the frontage road will close for the full day - project managers responsible for the paving are saying it will take a full 10-hour shift to accomplish - and traffic will be diverted onto the Loop 1604 entrance ramp. Drivers looking to get to stores at The Forum at Olympia Parkway may still enter the shopping center at the IHOP.
Meanwhile, the general contractor is keeping his focus on the exit and entrance ramps he's working on. This includes the northbound exit ramp to FM 1518, which is closed right now and targeted to be reopened in March. Traffic headed to FM 1518 has been using the Olympia Parkway exit and doesn't need to pass through traffic signals to reach its destination.
Other ramps impacted by work are the northbound exit to Olympia Parkway, which remains open while crews work in the shoulder area. One lane of the northbound I-35 frontage road is closed for this work, which is adding a lane to the exit ramp. The other ramp being worked on is the southbound entrance ramp from Evans Road. That entrance ramp is closed, but traffic is able to enter the southbound main lanes of I-35 before reaching Forum Parkway and without going through additional intersections.
Once these three ramps are finished, crews are expected to move to the remaining priorities on the project - including the south-to-north turnaround at FM 3009 and sidewalks. Meanwhile, concrete crews are staying busy building concrete traffic barrier at a handful of locations along the project.
I-35 SAMMC
The first thing to know about this project - and, really, the most important thing to know - is the posted speed limit is 55 miles per hour. TxDOT staff driving the area set cruise control at 55 MPH and watch cars blow by at rates of speed higher than 70 MPH.
Again: The posted speed limit from Randolph Boulevard to George Beach is 55 miles per hour. San Antonio Police Department and other law enforcement agencies are routinely patroling the area, and they will let you know the speed limit has dropped. That message may cost you some money; this message is free. Decide now which one you'd rather pay attention to....
That's not the only change to traffic in the area. The speed limit change is "old news" ... we announced that back in mid-November. More recently we've put in place a "detour" route on the northbound I-410 connector to northbound I-35.
The connector feels a lot more like a main lane, really, because it stays at ground level. It doesn't bridge over much of anything; it is, however, just a single lane. It always has been, in fact. In that respect, we haven't changed anything about what traffic experiences out there. We still have a single lane connecting northbound I-410 to northbound I-35.
However, we closed the entrance ramp near Greatfare Road. It's the ramp that captures traffic from Binz-Engelman and the industrial facilities in the area. The traffic load on the ramp is relatively minor - mostly truck traffic during off-peak hours - but the elimination of the ramp has, for now, made a huge difference in the efficiency of traffic flow. We'll call it addition by subtraction for the time being.
Beyond that, we've got excavators preparing to expand the southbound main lanes at Rittiman Road; we've got crews building up the support structures for the future connector from southbound I-35 onto southbound I-410; we've got crews clearing the way and building support structures for ramp improvements near Randolph Boulevard. At this point the work is moving on pace to finish the project as projected at the end of 2016.
For now, though, TxDOT staff on the project and the workers building the road have one united plea for drivers: Please slow down and drive more carefully.
This means putting away the cell phones and paying attention to what's happening. We've had a number of crashes in the area - almost all due to the speed of drunk or unattentive drivers - that could easily have become extremely tragic. In one case, a car was discovered crashed into some steel bars crews work with daily. Those steel bars were some 50-60 feet away from the roadway, which was a 45 MPH curved ramp. The driver would have had to be traveling at an extreme rate of speed or would have had to deliberately try to hit the rebar in order to accomplish what was done.
The scariest part of that? Had the crash not happened during the very early hours of morning - had the crash occurred during regular working hours - no fewer than two workers would have likely been hit by the car.
Please remember: these work zones are our office. We have the same desire everyone else holds to return to our families safely each day after work. Please help us accomplish that goal by slowing down and paying close attention. Don't tolerate drunk driving, and don't allow anyone to text while driving.
Thursday, December 19
First turnaround at FM 3009 to open Friday (and other I-35 Selma stuff)
A small tree that's hanging into the road on the westbound Loop 1604 access road between Pat Booker Road and I-35 will be removed by the end of the week to address a safety issue.
But that's not the biggest news on the I-35 Selma project; that distinction belongs to the FM 3009 intersection.
FM 3009
The north-to-south turnaround will open Friday, December 20 - four days before Dan Williams Company project superintendent George Mayfield promised. George says project manager Freddy Cole is the hero for the work; Freddy has been on-site with the crews, pushing for maximum productivity every moment crews were on site.
Over the last week the medians and pedestrian ramps were formed and poured, with work finishing up Thursday. The barriers were moved Tuesday and Wednesday, replaced by barrels. The final surface of asphalt was laid yesterday, and Thursday painters marked the roadway stripes.
The turnaround - and the lanes over FM 3009 - will be opened up in time for the Friday evening commute. This should be particularly good news to the folks at the city of Schertz....
While concrete crews have begun working on the south-to-north turnaround over the last few days, the heavy work on that turnaround will begin after New Year's. That turnaround should be open by the end of the first quarter next year.
Milestone Two
The second major milestone on the project (the first was the northbound exit ramp to Forum Parkway, finished up by Thanksgiving this year) calls for the contractor to reconstruct the northbound exit ramp to FM 3009. The ramp will gain a lane - making two exit lanes to FM 3009 - and will get some improvements to the drain structures at the site.
That work will require the ramp to be completely closed for the work, forcing traffic headed to FM 3009 to use the Schertz Parkway exit. That, or drivers can use the next available exit and turn around ... whichever suits the driver.
Dan Williams has three weeks to finish that work; that is, from the day they close the ramp, they'll have three weeks to have it reopened for use. When that ramp closes, the entrance ramp from FM 1518 will open. The entrance ramp will remain open for use.
Work on Milestone Two is slated to start in January. An exact date for that closure will be given when it's "set in concrete".
Loop 1604
Through the last week we've been working on resolving the pavement issues on the ramp from Loop 1604 onto northbound I-35, requiring more closures than had been initially scheduled.
To those impacted by those closures, please accept our deepest apologies. Often those closures only lasted a few hours, and were needed to ensure a safe and secure drive.
Rather than patching the road as initially planned, pavers milled out some 10 inches of asphalt and repaved the ramp. Project personnel are confident this should adequately address the issues that had been encountered.
FM 1518
Dan Williams will close the intersection of FM 1518 at I-35 - the roads beneath the I-35 bridge - for a 24-hour period to build all the storm drain features at the intersection. That work will be done on a Sunday - right now supervisors are targeting Jan. 19 or Jan. 26 for that work.
With the intersection closed, cross traffic will need to use the access roads to Schertz Parkway or Evans Road to reach its destination.
But that's not the biggest news on the I-35 Selma project; that distinction belongs to the FM 3009 intersection.
FM 3009
The north-to-south turnaround will open Friday, December 20 - four days before Dan Williams Company project superintendent George Mayfield promised. George says project manager Freddy Cole is the hero for the work; Freddy has been on-site with the crews, pushing for maximum productivity every moment crews were on site.
Over the last week the medians and pedestrian ramps were formed and poured, with work finishing up Thursday. The barriers were moved Tuesday and Wednesday, replaced by barrels. The final surface of asphalt was laid yesterday, and Thursday painters marked the roadway stripes.
The turnaround - and the lanes over FM 3009 - will be opened up in time for the Friday evening commute. This should be particularly good news to the folks at the city of Schertz....
While concrete crews have begun working on the south-to-north turnaround over the last few days, the heavy work on that turnaround will begin after New Year's. That turnaround should be open by the end of the first quarter next year.
Milestone Two
The second major milestone on the project (the first was the northbound exit ramp to Forum Parkway, finished up by Thanksgiving this year) calls for the contractor to reconstruct the northbound exit ramp to FM 3009. The ramp will gain a lane - making two exit lanes to FM 3009 - and will get some improvements to the drain structures at the site.
That work will require the ramp to be completely closed for the work, forcing traffic headed to FM 3009 to use the Schertz Parkway exit. That, or drivers can use the next available exit and turn around ... whichever suits the driver.
Dan Williams has three weeks to finish that work; that is, from the day they close the ramp, they'll have three weeks to have it reopened for use. When that ramp closes, the entrance ramp from FM 1518 will open. The entrance ramp will remain open for use.
Work on Milestone Two is slated to start in January. An exact date for that closure will be given when it's "set in concrete".
Loop 1604
Through the last week we've been working on resolving the pavement issues on the ramp from Loop 1604 onto northbound I-35, requiring more closures than had been initially scheduled.
To those impacted by those closures, please accept our deepest apologies. Often those closures only lasted a few hours, and were needed to ensure a safe and secure drive.
Rather than patching the road as initially planned, pavers milled out some 10 inches of asphalt and repaved the ramp. Project personnel are confident this should adequately address the issues that had been encountered.
FM 1518
Dan Williams will close the intersection of FM 1518 at I-35 - the roads beneath the I-35 bridge - for a 24-hour period to build all the storm drain features at the intersection. That work will be done on a Sunday - right now supervisors are targeting Jan. 19 or Jan. 26 for that work.
With the intersection closed, cross traffic will need to use the access roads to Schertz Parkway or Evans Road to reach its destination.
Monday, September 16
Moving along well; a quick look at the I-35 Selma job....
In a Thursday afternoon meeting about the closure of the Loop 1604 ramps to northbound I-35, representatives of The Forum shopping center and the city of Live Oak expressed some surprise the traffic wasn't backed up more than it was in the area.
Because of the ramp closure, traffic is being routed onto the frontage roads at Pat Booker Road. Before reaching the northbound main lanes of I-35, all traffic has to pass through the traffic signal at Forum Parkway. Everyone - including just about every TxDOT engineer involved with the project - thought traffic would stack up onto Loop 1604. We expected a bit of a traffic disaster.
However, even at peak traffic hours the total wait to get onto the Interstate is about fifteen minutes. And that's going the long way. During the day, when traffic is a little lighter, the detour takes between 8 and 10 minutes to get through.
Even with these phenomenal figures, we're actually going to try and improve the flow a little more. We're looking into a minor traffic pattern change on the westbound frontage road at Pat Booker Road, paring traffic down to one lane to allow drivers using the east-to-west turnaround a protected acceleration lane. We're evaluating timing of traffic signals, giving us a better flow of traffic. So much for talk of the traffic patterns out there.
Let's talk progress....
Within a few hours of setting up the closure last week, we had drill rigs in place digging foundation holes for our bridge support columns. Work on those columns has been moving quickly, and later this week we hope to have additional columns underway. Drivers should also start seeing retaining walls for the bridge structure start going up.
Everyone on the project is working toward the same goal: to have that north-bound exit to Forum Parkway reopened as soon as possible. We're working on a few out-of-the-box ideas to move faster than even our projected January target date; if any of those ideas are approved, we'll be sure to announce them.
Olympia Parkway
For now, the best way to get to The Forum and The Shops at The Forum from northbound I-35 is Olympia Parkway.
On the southbound side, the Olympia Parkway exit is closed - we're moving the exit further north, closer to the bridge. The idea behind that is to give traffic a little more time to move around on the frontage road, and we just built a new entrance ramp before Forum Parkway. Until the new ramp - which will have two lanes - is complete, traffic is using the Schertz Parkway exit.
We hope to have the Olympia Parkway exit finished in time for the holiday shopping season.
The next milestone....
The night of September 22 (a Sunday), crews will close the northbound exit ramp to FM 3009. The ramp is tied to a milestone that allows just three weeks for work; when crews reopen the ramp, it will have two lanes and the north-to-south turnaround will be ready for use. The entrance ramp from FM 1518 will also be opened.
That is, if the weather (and the equipment) cooperates.
That will mean that, by mid-October, all the northbound frontage road lanes currently closed will reopen. Until that point, all northbound traffic to FM 3009 will use the Schertz Parkway exit.
Because of the ramp closure, traffic is being routed onto the frontage roads at Pat Booker Road. Before reaching the northbound main lanes of I-35, all traffic has to pass through the traffic signal at Forum Parkway. Everyone - including just about every TxDOT engineer involved with the project - thought traffic would stack up onto Loop 1604. We expected a bit of a traffic disaster.
However, even at peak traffic hours the total wait to get onto the Interstate is about fifteen minutes. And that's going the long way. During the day, when traffic is a little lighter, the detour takes between 8 and 10 minutes to get through.
Even with these phenomenal figures, we're actually going to try and improve the flow a little more. We're looking into a minor traffic pattern change on the westbound frontage road at Pat Booker Road, paring traffic down to one lane to allow drivers using the east-to-west turnaround a protected acceleration lane. We're evaluating timing of traffic signals, giving us a better flow of traffic. So much for talk of the traffic patterns out there.
Let's talk progress....
Within a few hours of setting up the closure last week, we had drill rigs in place digging foundation holes for our bridge support columns. Work on those columns has been moving quickly, and later this week we hope to have additional columns underway. Drivers should also start seeing retaining walls for the bridge structure start going up.
Everyone on the project is working toward the same goal: to have that north-bound exit to Forum Parkway reopened as soon as possible. We're working on a few out-of-the-box ideas to move faster than even our projected January target date; if any of those ideas are approved, we'll be sure to announce them.
Olympia Parkway
For now, the best way to get to The Forum and The Shops at The Forum from northbound I-35 is Olympia Parkway.
On the southbound side, the Olympia Parkway exit is closed - we're moving the exit further north, closer to the bridge. The idea behind that is to give traffic a little more time to move around on the frontage road, and we just built a new entrance ramp before Forum Parkway. Until the new ramp - which will have two lanes - is complete, traffic is using the Schertz Parkway exit.
We hope to have the Olympia Parkway exit finished in time for the holiday shopping season.
The next milestone....
The night of September 22 (a Sunday), crews will close the northbound exit ramp to FM 3009. The ramp is tied to a milestone that allows just three weeks for work; when crews reopen the ramp, it will have two lanes and the north-to-south turnaround will be ready for use. The entrance ramp from FM 1518 will also be opened.
That is, if the weather (and the equipment) cooperates.
That will mean that, by mid-October, all the northbound frontage road lanes currently closed will reopen. Until that point, all northbound traffic to FM 3009 will use the Schertz Parkway exit.
Friday, February 15
The I-35 Selma project....
Since the north-bound exit to Forum Parkway on I-35 closed a couple weeks ago, I've fielded a variety of calls and emails regarding the posted detour route.
Most of the questions question the efficiency of our route through Olympia Parkway. Rather than continue to offer the same response over and over and over, I'll let everyone know the reasons behind our current detour routes.
The biggest concern expressed is the frustration over needing to take the Olympia Parkway exit, then drive all the way to Olympia Parkway and wait at the traffic signal before continuing into The Forum shopping center. Instead, I've heard several suggest taking Agora Parkway immediately after exiting at Olympia Parkway.
DO NOT DO THIS.
Remember our top priority at TxDOT is safety. Moving from the main lanes of I-35 (where traffic is moving at 70 miles per hour) onto a frontage road (45 miles per hour), then moving over two full lanes of roadway while slowing down to a safe turning speed in less than a tenth of a mile is simply dangerous. Maneuvers like this are likely to contribute to collisions, and we're trying to avoid that. Instead, shoot for Olympia Parkway. That offers you enough room to comfortably slow and turn off the frontage road.
Besides, our detour isn't intended to get you (specifically) to The Forum anyway. Our intent is getting folks to Forum Parkway - letting traffic out directly where the closure ends.
But if you are using north-bound I-35 to reach The Forum, our recommendation is to actually use the Pat Booker Road exit. Pat Booker Road intersects with Loop 1604, where you can take the west-bound access road into The Forum. Having driven them both, this detour seems to be the more efficient option for shoppers heading to The Forum.
Enough on that. Let's talk construction....
As I just said, we've now had the north-bound exit ramp to Forum Parkway shut down for more than two weeks. We've gotten our barriers set up and have started some excavation since that happened, and over the next few weeks we'll be focusing on constructing some storm drain structures and continuing to excavate the work area.
On the other end - at FM 3009 - we're installing storm sewer drain pipes and preparing to work on the bridge support columns and caps. Hopefully we'll get after the columns and caps sometime in the next week or two.
As for the work between FM 1518 and Schertz Parkway ... we're progressing. We're still targeting the spring to have those entrance and exit ramps re-opened.
That's it - that's what's going on. If you have any questions regarding the project, comment below!
Most of the questions question the efficiency of our route through Olympia Parkway. Rather than continue to offer the same response over and over and over, I'll let everyone know the reasons behind our current detour routes.
The biggest concern expressed is the frustration over needing to take the Olympia Parkway exit, then drive all the way to Olympia Parkway and wait at the traffic signal before continuing into The Forum shopping center. Instead, I've heard several suggest taking Agora Parkway immediately after exiting at Olympia Parkway.
DO NOT DO THIS.
Remember our top priority at TxDOT is safety. Moving from the main lanes of I-35 (where traffic is moving at 70 miles per hour) onto a frontage road (45 miles per hour), then moving over two full lanes of roadway while slowing down to a safe turning speed in less than a tenth of a mile is simply dangerous. Maneuvers like this are likely to contribute to collisions, and we're trying to avoid that. Instead, shoot for Olympia Parkway. That offers you enough room to comfortably slow and turn off the frontage road.
Besides, our detour isn't intended to get you (specifically) to The Forum anyway. Our intent is getting folks to Forum Parkway - letting traffic out directly where the closure ends.
But if you are using north-bound I-35 to reach The Forum, our recommendation is to actually use the Pat Booker Road exit. Pat Booker Road intersects with Loop 1604, where you can take the west-bound access road into The Forum. Having driven them both, this detour seems to be the more efficient option for shoppers heading to The Forum.
Enough on that. Let's talk construction....
As I just said, we've now had the north-bound exit ramp to Forum Parkway shut down for more than two weeks. We've gotten our barriers set up and have started some excavation since that happened, and over the next few weeks we'll be focusing on constructing some storm drain structures and continuing to excavate the work area.
On the other end - at FM 3009 - we're installing storm sewer drain pipes and preparing to work on the bridge support columns and caps. Hopefully we'll get after the columns and caps sometime in the next week or two.
As for the work between FM 1518 and Schertz Parkway ... we're progressing. We're still targeting the spring to have those entrance and exit ramps re-opened.
That's it - that's what's going on. If you have any questions regarding the project, comment below!
Thursday, January 31
I-35 in full swing
According to the Texas Transportation Institute, it's the busiest segment of state-maintained highway in the San Antonio area.
That's why we're hard at work to provide some solutions. Those who are part of the 180,000-plus drivers who drive this area each day have watched as the project has progressed. Many of those have sent emails or made phone calls to ask about the project's progress. With that in mind, here's what's happening out there as of this week:
Just two things to point out, by way of emphasis: First, the Forum Parkway exit ramp is a milestone, and the work there is being timed. Road crews have about six months to get it done - which is part of why the ramp is a priority for job bosses. Second, this project is due to be substantially completed (meaning all features carrying traffic will be open for use) by Christmas 2013. In the grand scheme of things, this means the project is pretty darned fast.
For more information on the project, you check out the TxDOT-maintained project page.
That's why we're hard at work to provide some solutions. Those who are part of the 180,000-plus drivers who drive this area each day have watched as the project has progressed. Many of those have sent emails or made phone calls to ask about the project's progress. With that in mind, here's what's happening out there as of this week:
- Work on the north-bound I-35 exit to Forum Parkway has begun. For the first week or so, most of the work will involve preparing the work space and getting everything set up so the crews can safely work each day. Within the next three weeks you should start seeing machines out there to break apart old infrastructure that's being modified or rebuilt to fit the new braided ramp.
- The adjustments of the exit and entrance ramps between FM 1518 and Schertz Parkway will continue. This has been half of the focus for road-building crews to this point, and will remain a priority. Job bosses hope to have the ramps re-opened by early spring, freeing up resources being used on these ramps in time to hit the Forum Parkway exit ramp in time for the most intensive work to be done there.
- Construction of turnaround bridges at FM 3009 is about 30 percent complete. Bridge crews are almost finished building the abutments, or shelves intended to hold the ends of the support beams that will bridge the interstate. Work on support columns in the median is set to begin in earnest moving forward.
Just two things to point out, by way of emphasis: First, the Forum Parkway exit ramp is a milestone, and the work there is being timed. Road crews have about six months to get it done - which is part of why the ramp is a priority for job bosses. Second, this project is due to be substantially completed (meaning all features carrying traffic will be open for use) by Christmas 2013. In the grand scheme of things, this means the project is pretty darned fast.
For more information on the project, you check out the TxDOT-maintained project page.
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