Fred-Med thru lanes open; more on that project

Fred-Med

As of 9:45 this morning, the through lanes on Medical Drive running under Fredericksburg Road. This is the culmination of nearly two decades of work as folks with the South Texas Medical Center Foundation to get this potentially life-saving intersection improvement finished.

The first official vehicle to use the new through lanes of Medical Drive at Fredericksburg Road was this San Antonio Fire Department ambulance, which ran through ceremoniously with lights going. Within a half hour of this, normal traffic was moving through.

The project's intent is to provide free-flowing through lanes on Medical Drive, getting through the busy intersection of Fredericksburg Road. This should reduce travel time from I-10 to hospital facilities along Medical Drive by as much as 60 seconds in emergency situations.

While the through lanes are finished, crews still have work remaining on the overall intersection. Most of that work is electrical work, being done by a subcontractors. This work includes some fixes for the issues folks are seeing with the traffic signals on the surface level of the intersection.

Expect to see crews working around-the-clock, though not with the same intensity you've seen in previous weeks, to finish project items like sidewalk and curb work. Overnight work through this week will allow striping crews to finish the striping on the new road lanes (right now we have reflective lane marking tabs). Texas Sterling Construction also has some landscaping work left, and that will be the last bit of work to be finished.

Since we've had a couple of questions related to the Fred-Med project hit our mailbag, it just seems appropriate to answer them here....

The Fred-Med project looks like a great, unique solution to the traffic in that area. Are there plans to employ a similar solution elsewhere in the area?

-Bill

 

In short, not right now. Though if there are some locations something like this would make sense, we'd certainly be up for it. Keep in mind that, after all the right-of-way was acquired and the project was finished out, this endeavor cost around $20 million. There's a lot we could do with $20 million....

I don't know if you guys are still reconsidering the placement of the signals at Fred-Med, but if you are or if you do in the future, may I suggest going with mast arms adjusted to be positioned closer to the center of the intersection so turning traffic doesn't stop in the middle and clog up traffic?
- Brian

Right now we have a series of fixes for the issue you're describing. Yes, people are still turning left onto Fredericksburg Road and stopping mid-intersection. They shouldn't be, but they are. We've got louvers planned to be placed in the signal, and those are designed to restrict visibility to where only traffic intended to be controlled by those signals can see them (or see the light color). If that doesn't work, our partners with the city of San Antonio have suggested mounting some signals on the pedestrian poles - a slightly more expensive fix, but something that's doable.

If THAT doesn't do the trick, we'll need to look into something a little more expensive. That may include a set-up similar to what you're suggesting, with a truss spanning the intersection and holding the signals for the whole shebang. That's not done anywhere else around town, but this is a fairly unique intersection as it is....

Projects around San Antonio

Apologies in advance for not doing one post for each of these projects, but we have brief - brief - updates for a number of projects. Here ... we ... go....

Fred-Med
The grade separation project at the intersection of Fredericksburg Road and Medical Drive is at the point we're now only days from being finished with the project. We are working with some of our civic leaders to schedule a ceremony to open it up.

Weather has impacted us over the last six weeks, for sure. We've discovered an off-site water leak (now addressed) that will require crews to repair some sidewalk on Medical Drive. We've had some difficulty getting the new signal arms installed properly. Through it all, we're finally ready to have this opened up.

Between now and then, however, expect overnight closures through the area while crews lay asphalt. Daytime work is mostly on aesthetic portions of the project at this point. Either way, the work is at a feverish  pace right now as crews try to wrap things up.

Once we open the new through lanes of Medical Drive, expect to see work continue for the next few weeks while finishing touches are completed.

Wurzbach Parkway
It's been suggested this project progress has slowed to a crawl ...  the truth is the heaviest work is being done at night (requiring closures like last night and tonight on U.S. 281) while crews are doing what they can during the day.

Crews are trying to finish the turnarounds at Nakoma and have them operational in July. Meanwhile, work on the new northbound exit to Bitters continues to progress, as does work on the new northbound entrance ramp from Nakoma (under the exit to Bitters).

Williams Brothers Construction is the contractor out there, and they've also got work on Loop 1604 and will soon have work elsewhere in the city. Much of the work upcoming will likely require the attention of crews now on Wurzbach. Look for those crews to finish what's left on Wurzbach up this summer to be ready for work in other locations.

The short-short story: We're on pace to have the parkway finished by the end of summer. That said, the contract allows until the end of the year.

Loop 1604 Northwest

A picture is worth 1,000 words, and a video is worth more than that. Above is a look at what's happening along Loop 16o4, including a detailed response to JDH's question from this week's Mailbag post.


UTSA Boulevard
We got a notice to proceed letter, and will be able to start construction - for realsies this time - on the UTSA Boulevard project. Utility conflicts kept us from starting work in April, when we had wanted to start. Now those conflicts are reported as moved, and work will begin June 22. The first phase of work is on the eastbound side of the road, but expect to see construction on both sides of the road for the first little while.

This project will last two full years.

Additional closures this week

US 281
Last night Williams Brothers Construction closed all main lanes of northbound U.S. 281 at Nakoma Drive, pushing traffic onto the frontage road. This allowed bridge crews to do bridge work on the future south-to-north turnaround, which crews set beams to form over the weekend.

Expect to see the same closure tonight (Wednesday) from 9 o'clock until tomorrow morning at 5. Thursday and Friday nights Williams Brothers will close the southbound lanes in a similar manner.

These closures had initially been planned as "alternating" closures, meaning one or two lanes would close at a time. That changed to full closures when project managers discussed a potential for speedier, less expensive work. That's what we're implementing now. Williams Brothers provided the contractually obligated 48 hours notice for the lane closure, but they missed the window to have the closure posted in Friday's report.

While weather can impact the work requiring these closures, don't expect to see these closures pushed back. The work can be done even in the rain. Again, here's the closure info:

• Tuesday night and Wednesday night, 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Northbound main lanes of U.S. 281 at Nakoma. All lanes will close for overhead bridge work. Traffic will exit Nakoma and re-enter after passing through the intersection.
• Thursday night and Friday night, 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Southbound main lanes of U.S. 281 at Nakoma. All lanes will close for overhead bridge work. Traffic will exit Nakoma and re-enter after passing through the intersection.

 I-10
As a reminder, the westbound exit ramp to DeZavala Road will close this weekend while crews resurface the road. This closure is extremely dependent on the weather and could be pushed back for the second straight week. If so, it will be rescheduled for May 29-June1.

Webber Construction will close the ramp - and the main lanes leading up to the ramp, leaving just three lanes open on the westbound side - around 9 p.m. Friday. Everything will be reopened by Monday morning's 5 o'clock commute. The work may not require all that allotted time, though, and we hope to be finished much earlier than Monday morning.

Those traveling west and headed to DeZavala have to main options. First, they can exit UTSA Boulevard and turn around, approaching DeZavala on the eastbound side. Otherwise they can exit Huebner Road and pass through the intersection at Huebner to continue along the westbound frontage road.

Again, all this is incredibly weather-dependent; we can't lay asphalt on wet ground. If making this happen is possible, though, we expect to move forward with the plan.

Fred-Med
Portable changeable message boards (those orange trailers with digital messages on them) have announced for a week the weekend closure of the intersection. This means Fredericksburg Road will be closed to all traffic at Medical Drive, and turning traffic on Medical will be closed at Fredericksburg Road. Through traffic on Medical Drive will be able to continue along their way, using a portion of the new underpass being constructed.

Fredericksburg Road traffic will use Wurzbach, Ewing Halsell and Louis Pasteur to get around the intersection. Traffic on Medical Drive will turn onto Ewing Halsell to reach Fredericksburg Road.

With the intersection closed Texas Sterling Construction will resurface the intersection, lay down new pavement markings and work on the traffic signals. This work could take every bit of the scheduled time over the weekend, but will result in a cleaner-running intersection than drivers have known over recent months.

Again, if wet weather hits through the weekend this work will be pushed back to May 29-June 1.

Three major closures this weekend

UPDATE: Due to rain, the closures on I-10 and at the intersection of Fredericksburg and Medical have been POSTPONED until next weekend (May 15-18). The closure on U.S. 281 will still happen, as it is less dependent on weather.

Announced today are three major closures that could impact traffic fairly heavily this weekend. The most significant of the three is on U.S. Hwy 281 at Nakoma Drive.

U.S. 281 closure

The work at U.S. 281 - which will mean at least one direction of the highway will be shut down through the bulk of Saturday, and for a few short hours will mean all main lanes will be closed - will build the support structures for the new south-to-north turnaround at Nakoma Drive. This new turnaround will allow eastbound traffic on Wurzbach Parkway to reach northbound 281 with relative ease, once the Wurzbach Parkway project is finished.

The southbound lanes will close at 6 a.m. Saturday and reopen sometime Saturday afternoon, depending on how quickly Williams Brothers Construction gets the work over the southbound lanes finished. At some point mid-day the northbound lanes will close as well. The time cannot be pinpointed in advance, as production rates on the southbound side impact the time of the northbound closure. For at least two hours, both sides will be closed.

Traffic will exit Nakoma Drive, pass through the intersection and then re-enter the highway. All lanes should be reopened by 7 p.m. Saturday.

Once the bridge beams are set over 281 this weekend, drivers should expect nightly closures of the highway - sometimes full closures of one direction of the highway at a time - while bridge crews do their work. Williams Brothers Construction is pushing to finish work along U.S. 281 early summer so they can open the parkway up by mid-summer.

I-10 closure

Additionally, the westbound I-10 exit ramp to DeZavala Road will close Friday night at 8:30 and remain closed through Monday morning while Webber Construction and its subcontractors resurface the road. This closure will also include the two right lanes - an optional exit lane and an auxiliary lane - of I-10, leaving I-10 with just three westbound main lanes in operation over Huebner Road this weekend.

When  crews are done drivers will notice a much smoother ride along the auxiliary lane connecting the entrance ramp from Huebner Road to the exit ramp to DeZavala, and particularly along the exit ramp itself. Crews should be able to iron out some of the asphalt along the frontage road between the exit ramp and Fredericksburg Road as well, eliminating small lips along the road where the base surface that's down and in use isn't at the same elevation as, say, a drain outlet. Yes, we've had a temporary "ramp" to eliminate sharp contrasts in these elevation points, but this work will flush things out so it's all smooth sailing.

Of course, overnight closures of the I-10 main lanes are ongoing as Webber and their subcontractor work to resurface the entirety of the project between Loop 1604 and Huebner Road.

Fred-Med closure

At the intersection of Fredericksburg Road and Medical Drive crews with Texas Sterling Construction will repave the intersection, closing the intersection to through traffic on Fredericksburg Road. Traffic on Fredericksburg Road should use Wurzbach Road, Ewing Halsell and Louis Pasteur to get around the intersection. Traffic on Medical Drive will actually be able to push through the intersection on a portion of the new through lanes under Fredericksburg Road, but will not be able to turn directly onto Fredericksburg Road.

The Medical Center closures are scheduled to begin Friday night at 7 and will wrap up by Monday at 5 a.m.

When Texas Sterling is finished, the ride through the intersection of Fredericksburg Road and Medical Drive should be a whole lot smoother. We'll also be able to lay down final pavement markings, which should help folks navigate left turns through the intersection a little better. (Hint: once you turn left, DON'T STOP! Keep going through the intersection!) We're still waiting on the electrical subcontractor, Star, to build the traffic signals to get that one step closer to being finished with work at the intersection altogether, but this weekend is an important step to knock out.

As for those through lanes, don't expect to keep using them Monday. We'll only have one lane each way open through the weekend, and crews still have a lot of little things to do in order to open those up long-term. Look for a ribbon cutting and official opening to come later this month.

With wet weather in the forecast for the weekend, there is a chance some of this work gets postponed; if so, an alert will be sent out via Twitter.

Fred-Med: an update

In the interest of candor, this project was scheduled to be delivered by the start of February. Stormy weather over the winter has contributed to delays on projects across the district, but isn't the only issue the contractor has dealt with on the Fred-Med project.

Since the bridge slide in November, Texas Sterling Construction has significantly outpaced the work of one of its subcontractors and had to pull some resources off the job. This issue has become a bigger issue since February and we are working toward a resolution.

Right now we are hopeful we can reach the realistic goal of having traffic on the lower-level through lanes of Medical Drive by mid-May. We have about seven weeks’ worth of work before we’re done with work on the Fredericksburg Road surface level.
Between now and completion, here’s a look at the remaining work to be done: 

• The through lanes of Medical Drive are made of concrete paving. This work is being done this week and, if weather cooperates, could be wrapped up by mid-week.
• A raised concrete median will divide the uphill and downhill traffic under Fredericksburg Road - that's concrete work that cannot be completed until the concrete paving is finished. It's not work that requires a long time to finish, but it does have some prerequisites. That should be underway next week.
• Once the concrete work is done, paving crews will lay asphalt to tie in the new through lanes with the existing lanes of Medical Drive. This will take some time - and a string of good weather - to accomplish. We're hopeful this will be done early or the middle of May.
• The final touch is the paint job. We're not going to leave the whole thing in "concrete grey", after all - we want this to be a noticeable entryway to the South Texas Medical Center. You'll notice the STMC logo etched into the retaining walls under Fredericksburg Road, for instance. Once we have all the structural work left, we'll give it a paint job to match some of the theme in the Medical Center.

On the upper level (Fred Road), we've got a bit more work remaining:

• Perhaps our biggest challenge is getting the traffic signal poles installed correctly. This will resolve some of the issues we're having with traffic at the intersection and has been prioritized for several months, but we are dependent on subcontractors to get the work done. Between availability of equipment and some debate over the actual location of some of these signal poles, we've seen some delays on this work. We now have everything ironed out and hope to see this work progress rapidly over the next few weeks.
• Once the signal poles are installed and signal heads are mounted on the mast arms, concrete crews will be able to work on the curbs and sidewalks and pedestrian ramps across the intersection. We can't work on these before the signal work is finished because of the high risk of damage (and then a need to re-do work) to the curbs. The good news is this work is fast and only really requires a few short days once it starts
• One thing folks can see crews doing now is install the steel railing along the concrete barrier keeping those driving on the Medical Drive exit and entrance ramps from barreling down into the through lanes below. Again, this is work that only takes a few short days.
• The same subcontractor working on our traffic signals is also responsible for our lighting system. Once the signals are done, we'll turn them onto illumination. We hope that process is quick and straightforward.
• A final layer of asphalt will be put down once all the concrete work is finished. This should smooth out the ride for folks driving through the intersection now, and will allow us to put permanent pavement markers that will help traffic understand this intersection a bit better.
• Again, we wrap everything up with a paint job. We were trying to work so the painter could move directly from the downstairs portion to the upstairs, but we're not totally sure that will happen now. Hey, we can still try and strive for it, right?

That's it - that gets you up-to-date on the Fred-Med project.

The most important thing is:

Through lanes of Medical Drive should open in about three weeks.

Total project completion should happen in about seven weeks.

Bottom line: by the end of June, you shouldn't see us out there doing much of anything anymore -we should be all packed up and moved on to other projects!

Fred-Med: updated timeline

This morning project managers with Texas Sterling Construction let us know they intend to have the through lanes of Medical Drive ready for use in time for Easter. They will spend the rest of April dressing things up and finishing the last bits of work.

The initial project schedule showed the project finishing up this month, but recent weather patterns have washed that back. TSC crews have been doing all they can to keep the project moving, though the moving has been slow. Despite the weather crews are pushing forward the best they can; just today the last of the retaining wall panels were delivered and prepped to be set.

Bexar metro area projects

It's been a while since a solid update has been given on the major projects in San Antonio itself, so here are a few brief items. These are brief, because pretty much all projects are just pushing along without a ton of fanfare ... for now.

I-10 Huebner

This week's progress meeting on the I-10 Huebner project was moved, so a brief post on Wurzbach Parkway will have to take its place for now. We'll have an update on the I-10 project later this week.

That said, Webber Construction is planning work beginning this weekend on the eastbound frontage road approaching UTSA Boulevard. That will impact those shopping at Costco, as the driveways off the frontage road will be blocked. Those headed to Costco will need to do so from UTSA Blvd itself, though that should only last a couple of very short weeks.

Wurzbach Parkway


Monday Texas Sterling Construction will detour traffic headed to the city's brush dump onto Wurzbach Parkway from Jones-Maltsberger. Traffic to the brush site will head east on the parkway, using a single lane, and turn right into the brush site. To exit, they will turn right and drive to Starcrest Drive, then use the turnaround and return to Jones-Maltsberger. Because it would require activating the traffic signal at Starcrest - which we're not yet ready to do - we won't be able to allow traffic to continue east through Starcrest.

The blue arrows mark the route traffic will need to take to get to and from the city's brush site over the next few weeks.

Right now we're eyeing mid-March to have the eastern segment (Jones-Maltsberger to Wetmore) open and fully operational. If weather and all that complies, that is.

Loop 1604 northwest expansion

Residents of the Bridgewood subdivision noticed a traffic switch Sunday on Leslie Road. Williams Brothers Construction moved traffic onto new asphalt between Shaenfield and Culebra roads on the southbound side of Loop 1604. (Leslie Road is being converted permanently into the Loop 1604 southbound frontage road). Driveways and road access points were kept open, but these access points may change periodically as WBC continues to do the work to reconstruct the road.

Project managers anticipate more switches - particularly just south of Braun Road - later this week. These switches will be minor, but drivers should be aware they will be happening. These minor switches will open up space for WBC to work on the outside halves of the frontage roads south of Braun Road, including some of the drain structure work.

Those who've been keeping up with this project will recall that earlier this year we announced that WBC plans to have all traffic running on the frontage roads by the end of the school year.

Fred-Med

We'll have more details Thursday ... but the big thing to know is we are working with Texas Sterling Construction to have the new through lanes of Medical Drive opened and in use within the next month, if conditions allow. We are hoping for overall project completion before spring break.

This is, indeed, a little bit behind our initially hoped-for deadline; recent weather issues have made work slow on projects across the district. Texas Sterling is still on pace to finish the project within the contract's allotted time limit.

UTSA Boulevard

We do have a project that's nearing a start-up date on UTSA Boulevard between I-10 and Edward Ximenes. This project will expand the road to four lanes - two in each direction - with a center left-turn lane. We are also adding some shoulder space for bikes and a multi-use path that will connect hikers, bikers and runners to the Leon Creek Greenway at UTSA Boulevard and Valero Way.

CPS Energy has moved its lines, and all currently necessary SAWS moves have been made. We are still waiting for telecommunications companies with lines along the road to move their lines in order to be able to begin work. Once work does begin, the project will take about a year and a half to complete.

Fred-Med: the way moving forward

Now that we've wrapped up the first-ever (in Texas) lateral bridge slide on the Fred-Med project, it's time for a run-down on what to expect and what our project timeline is from here on out.

First, we're on pace to have the project substantially completed within the first eight weeks of the new year - which is in accord with our contracted schedule. That means we're on time with this project and, with a little luck, we may actually wrap up work a few weeks early.

The overwhelming majority of work moving forward is on the Medical Drive through lanes, under Fredericksburg Road. That work is being done behind barrier and won't impact daily traffic. We've also got some concrete work (curbs, sidewalks, barriers...) throughout the project, which may require occasional overnight closures.

When crews are ready to lay base layers of asphalt on the Medical Drive through lanes, we might plan for some minor closures to allow trucks to get into or out of the work zone ... but those closures will be kept at an absolute minimum.

When we're ready to have the through lanes opened up in the next few weeks, we'll be finished with just about everything except the final layer of asphalt.

That final surface is tricky - if the weather is too cold or we rush things, the surface is rough and we end up with a bumpy ride. The project engineer has said he intends to hold off on the final surface until sometime in March. That may mean traffic on the Medical Drive through lanes could be opened up on the roadway subsurface for just a few weeks, allowing traffic to flow sooner rather than later.

By the way, if you're interested in the bridge slide, here's an incredible package of videos.

Fredericksburg Road bridge in place

Texas Sterling Construction began sliding the Fredericksburg Road bridge at Medical Drive into place Saturday night around 10 p.m., and by 1:30 this morning the bridge was in place.

That 28-hour window makes the Fredericksburg Road bridge deck the fastest to be installed in the state of Texas. Ever. How is that possible?

A typical bridge deck takes several weeks to install - the support structures must be cast and built, then (after the concrete has reached sufficient strength) bridge support beams are set, and then the deck itself is cast and poured. Factor in excavation and other dirt work, and the chore can easily take weeks or months to finish, meaning traffic disruptions for an extended period of time.

Here the bridge was built off to the side without interrupting traffic. Over the weekend - a single weekend! - crews were able to dig out the area the bridge would cover and slide the bridge deck into place. The good news is things went off without a hitch. The first push was the stickiest (moving millions of pounds of concrete is always tough), with friction finally giving way for a jolt start of about 12-15 inches Saturday night. Then the bridge moved along at about 4-6 inches per minute until it was in place by 1:30 this morning.

The process involves pushing two 2-million-pound bridges into place with hydraulic jacks, with the bridge sliding along Teflon-lined plates lubricated with Dawn dish soap. This week crews will be tying the deck into the existing roadway on Fredericksburg Road, then marking the roadway and setting barrier.

The process of the bridge slide and installation has required the closure of Fredericksburg Road at Medical Drive. Texas Sterling says they should have the roadway reopened by the end of this week, if all goes well.

That would mean not only setting a bridge deck in place this fast, but having the roadway reopened in a single week - all the fastest marks in our state's history. The speed is made possible by a new-to-Texas process, brought to the state by Texas Sterling Construction.

Using more traditional means, this bridge placement and installation would take somewhere between 30 and 60 days.

How it's going on Fred-Med

At midnight last night Texas Sterling Construction closed all lanes of Fredericksburg Road at Medical Drive. This morning, traffic on northbound Fredericksburg Road was backed up nearly to Callaghan Road, but that backup subsided by midday.

Police officers are deployed at strategic intersections to keep traffic flowing through the area, and will remain in use while the road is closed. That, combined with what seems like an abundance of drivers successfully seeking alternate routes, seems to have delays down to a minimum at the Medical Center.

Dirt crews are busily digging away the dirt under what was the road surface of Fredericksburg Road. Excavation should finish up by tomorrow (Saturday) morning, allowing bridge crews to begin pushing the bridge decks into place.

The lateral slide process will take most of the weekend, and should be finished by Monday morning.

Texas Sterling Construction is on pace to have the intersection reopened by the end of next week - nearly half the allotted time to do the necessary work.

Fredericksburg Road to close up to two weeks

Texas Sterling Construction will close Fredericksburg Road at Medical Drive midnight Thursday night for up to two weeks while bridge crews reconstruct the intersection.

The planned closure date was pushed back 24 hours due to rain Tuesday night and through Wednesday. Project bosses may need to push the closure another 24 hours if the wet weather continues through Thursday.

During the closure, traffic will only be able to turn right onto Medical Drive. Traffic on Medical Drive will continue to be able to travel through the intersection and continue into or out of the South Texas Medical Center. No left turns in any direction will be possible. A brief YouTube video shows one potential detour route.

Due to the closure, VIA will temporarily amend the Via Primo Route 100. The stations at the corner of Ewing Halsell and Medical Drive will have limited services. Stops at Fredericksburg Road and Marriott Drive, Fredericksburg Road and Datapoint, Fredericksburg Road and Data Pointe and at Fredericksburg Road and Wurzbach will also be impacted. Bus riders are encouraged to check with VIA to see how their commutes will be affected.

With the road closed, crews with Texas Sterling Construction will replace the road surface with a bridge deck, allowing for road builders to construct the proposed through lanes of Medical Drive at the intersection. The project’s goal is to provide an unfettered route from I-10 to emergency facilities at the South Texas Medical Center while addressing congestion in the area.

Texas Sterling has two weeks to have the bridge in place or they would face financial penalties. They may earn bonuses for having it open early as well. In order to accomplish the work in such a short window, they have proposed a new-to-Texas technique approved by the Federal Highway Administration called a lateral-slide bridge placement. The technique could mean Texas Sterling is able to have Fredericksburg Road re-opened in as little as half the allotted time of the closure.

Basic information about the process is discussed on the project’s Web page.

Rain washes out closures

Two more major closures have been pushed back due to this week's rains:

Bowens Crossing at Loop 1604:
Bowens Crossing will be closed in halves beginning Monday, Nov. 10. This will happen during the daytime only, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. with one side - the half carrying traffic off Lp 1604 - closed Monday and the other side - the half carrying traffic onto Lp 1604 - closed Tuesday.

Fredericksburg Road at Medical Drive:
Fredericksburg Road will close Thursday night at midnight (technically, 12:01 a.m. Friday). Traffic on Medical Drive may continue straight through the intersection or turn right. Fredericksburg Road traffic will be limited to right turns onto Medical Drive. No left turns will be permitted at the intersection.

This closure may last up to two weeks, but Texas Sterling Construction is implementing a new-to-Texas technique to have the road re-opened much sooner.

Fred-Med update: Closure of intersection scheduled

With our engineering questions about the bridge slide answered, Texas Sterling Construction will close Fredericksburg Road at Medical Drive the night of Wednesday, November 5. Thursday morning's traffic will need to seek alternate routes (we'll discuss that later).

This means the new roadway surface for Fredericksburg Road - a bridge over the future through lanes of Medical Drive - will be slid into place by Saturday. Though Texas Sterling has two full weeks (that's 14 days) to get Fredericksburg Road reopened, we're hoping to have the work done and lanes reopened in almost half that time.

This is work that was initially scheduled for early October. However, some testing of the concrete supports needed to be done in duplicate and engineering plans for the work needed to be resubmitted by Texas Sterling. With those issues wrapped up this afternoon, project bosses gave their one-week's notice of the work proceeding.

Wednesday evening, expect to see single lanes of Fredericksburg Road - and some alternating closures on Medical Drive - as crews prepare for the work. At 12:01 a.m. Thursday morning we'll have Fredericksburg Road closed down entirely. No through traffic, and  no left turns, will be permitted at this location. Traffic trying to continue on Fredericksburg Road will turn right onto Medical, then follow appropriate city streets to reach its destination. Officially, our planned detour uses Wurzbach Road, the I-10 frontage roads and Callaghan Road.

Here's an alternate route, if you're looking for some help:

After the closure is implemented Wednesday night, excavators will tear out the existing roadway and uncover bridge support structures that were constructed underground (remember those huge steel plates across the roadway? that's what those were for...). If all goes well, crews could be ready to slide the bridge decks into place by Saturday morning.

The bridges are slid on rails lined with Teflon pads and lubricated with dish soap. We have two bridge decks to slide into place, and each takes about 8-10 hours to slide.

With the bridge in place, crews will work on getting the bridge dressed up and build traffic barricades along the edge of the bridge. It'll take another couple of days to have everything ready to have traffic back in place by the end of the following week.

Once the bridge is in place, Texas Sterling says we'll be pretty well done with overnight work; the remaining work will be accomplished during the day.

As always, major weather events or equipment issues can disrupt the schedule ... but we're working hard to plan for as many contingencies as we can.

Weekend wrap; how the weekend's closures fared

Over the weekend we had several major corridors with huge closures, causing traffic delays in every segment of San Antonio north of U.S. 90. Here's a look at how things went:

I-10 at Ralph Fair Road

This closure mimicked what was done a few weeks ago, when Sundt Construction set nine of the longest beams in the state of Texas over the main lanes of I-10 at Ralph Fair Road on the city's far northwest side. This time, Sundt was pouring concrete.

Their plan was to have lanes reopened by 9 p.m. Saturday, and they beat that target by a few hours. By 5:45 p.m. traffic was flowing as normal on I-10 in both directions. That was done in part because of Sundt's work and preparation in the early hours of the closure, which started around 2 a.m. Saturday.

This was the second of about seven different times I-10 will close at this location, so expect another similar closure again in a few weeks. No exact timeline is sure yet, but we do have some internal targets. When we get closure to the next closure, we'll let everyone know.

DeZavala Road at I-10

The biggest hiccup on this came when Webber Construction crews started shutting lanes down at 8:20 p.m. Friday, rather than wait until the advertised 9 p.m. start time. The advertising was conflicting: in our outreach, we talked about 8:30 p.m., and the digital message boards read 9 p.m. We have corrected this for future closures.

Crews were able to chip away at the I-10 bridge over DeZavala, though trucks weren't able to haul off the debris until Sunday morning. Still, DeZavala Road was reopened in time for the Monday morning commute, which was the goal all along.

U.S. 281 at Wurzbach

A number of closures happened Saturday along the U.S. 281 corridor betweeen Nakoma Drive and Bitters Road, and work was done without a hitch. Most of the work is associated with Williams Brothers' Construction of Wurzbach Parkway overpass being built, which is scheduled to open by mid-215.

With this area, no news is good news. And things were extraordinarily quiet on the project this weekend, meaning things went well.

Northbound I-35 near SAMMC

Another case of no-news-is-good-news. Crews were able to have the highway reopened by Sunday afternoon, which met the goal set by Lane Construction. Bridge crews were able to pour concrete without any incident, and the road was only closed for a few brief hours.

Coming up

We have more major closures this weekend, including a full closure of all main lanes of U.S. Highway 281 Friday night. That closure will include the southbbound frontage road, meaning all southbound traffic will be diverted to West Avenue to get around the closure.

The major closure at the intersection of Fredericksburg Road and Medical Drive has been postponed as engineers examine bridge support structures and the plan to slide the Fredericksburg Road bridge deck into place. At this point, the earliest the closure would begin is November 7-8.

The skinny on the Fred-Med closure

Update 21 October: No date has been announced for the start of this closure and work; we hope to have a solid date set by the end of next week.

Original post:

As of 4 p.m. today (Tuesday) the planned closure of Fredericksburg Road (and the work associated with it) has been pushed back to Friday, October 24. The reason? Project folks are still waiting for some structural tests on concrete that's already been poured. Those test results are expected to be ready by mid-week next week, so we should be ready to roll next weekend.

Here's the plan:

At 12:01 a.m. Saturday morning (basically, midnight Friday night) Texas Sterling Construction will completely close Fredericksburg Road at Medical Drive in the Medical Center area. This closure will last for two weeks. Traffic on Fred Rd will be able to turn right onto Medical, which will allow the use of some city surface streets to still reach their destinations. However, expect this to be a sticky area with traffic bogged down a bit in all directions. If there's another way for you to get where you're going, you'd be wise to take it.

Here's a look at the potential detour routes for the Fred-Med work:

With Fredericksburg Road closed, Texas Sterling will excavate the intersection, completely tearing out the roadway that is now Fredericksburg Road. Folks with Texas Sterling expect to have that excavation finished within 48 hours.

The bridge support structures - columns, caps, etc. - are already in place. Remember those steel plates you drove on for about eight months? Those were to allow crews to build the bridge supports under the road you were driving on. With the roadway excavated they'll be able to uncover those structures and clean them up.

By Monday morning - and, potentially, by midday Sunday - Texas Sterling will be ready to slide the bridge deck that will form Fredericksburg Road. That process involves a hydraulic jack that will push the bridge deck along rails, aided by some Dawn dish soap (of all things) and some Teflon pads.

Once the bridge is locked in place, crews will spend at least a day or two dressing the intersection up. If all goes well, traffic could be back to normal within a full week.

But folks should keep in mind Texas Sterling has two weeks to get the work done, and they may need that full time if weather or other factors intervene to cause delays.

Again, the important details:

Start of closure: Saturday, October 25, 12:01 a.m.
Expected end of closure: Friday, November 7, midnight.
Area closed: Fredericksburg Road, both directions, at Medical Drive.
Detour route: See video above.

Fred-Med: Fredericksburg Rd closure tentatively set

Supervisors on the Fred-Med project have tentatively set the date for the closure of Fredericksburg Road at Medical Drive for midnight the night of Saturday, October 18 (going into Sunday). At that point, all traffic on Fredericksburg Road will have to turn right onto Medical Drive; no through traffic will be allowed.

This closure will last a maximum of two weeks, though the folks at Texas Sterling Construction are optimisitic they'll have Fredericksburg Road back open a lot sooner than that.

While Fredericksburg Road is closed, crews will tear out the roadway and replace it with a bridge deck, carrying Fred Road traffic over the future through lanes of Medical Drive. Texas Sterling Construction has proposed - and have been approved - to use a new-to-Texas technique called "slide-in-place" bridge placement, where the bridge deck is built adjacent to its final resting place and then pushed into place. This reduces dramatically the time needed for a lane closure, eliminating typical waiting time while concrete cures or beams are set.

Bridge crews set those bridge support beams nearly two weeks ago, being able to do so during the daytime without using major lane closures. Last night concrete was poured to form the bridge deck surface, and crews will spend the next two weeks dressing up the bridge deck and preparing for the slide.

Project managers say crews will need two full days to dig out the intersection to make way for the new bridge, and the new bridge can be slid into place in as little as a single day. After time allotted to dress up the area and prepare again for traffic, the whole closure could be finished in as little as a week.

Remember the closure date is still tentative, yet firm; a few engineering items need to be addressed between now and then, and there's always the chance off inclement weather moving the dates a bit.

When the closure is in effect, southbound traffic will use Medical Drive and Ewing Halsell to reach its destination. Northbound traffic will use Medical Drive, I-10 and Huebner Road to reach its destination. Traffic on Medical Drive will still be able to go through Fredericksburg Road as normal, but will not be able to turn left.

Fred-Med project sliding along

The weekend's pending rain has scrubbed plans to set bridge support beams forming the Fredericksburg Road bridge Saturday.

Bridge support beams were scheduled to be set at the Fred-Med intersection Saturday, requiring occasional closures of one lane on Medical Drive to provide space for the trucks to set up. Because of rain and the lane closure restrictions on the project, Texas Sterling has developed a plan to set the beams daily beginning Monday morning around 9:45. The work will stop by 3 p.m. each day.

Job bosses expect all beams - 38 in total - will be set by the end of the week. No lane closures will be used for this, though police will be used to direct traffic and get trucks into the work area. Trucks will come along Fredericksburg Road from I-410, then turn left onto Medical Drive.

The beams are being set on the west side of Fredericksburg Road in the middle of the future through lanes, allowing Texas Sterling Construction to build the bridge deck out of the way of Fredericksburg Road traffic. In late October Texas Sterling will close Federicksburg Road at Medical Drive to slide the bridge deck into place.

Though we are scheduled to have Federicksburg Road closed two weeks, this slide-in-place process Texas Sterling is bringing to Texas could mean the work is done much faster.

With access lanes built and traffic along Medical Drive in its final footprint, the through lanes of Medical Drive and the Fredericksburg Road are all that's really left to build on this project. Job bosses say work is on schedule to finish in time for its early 2015 end date.

Fred-Med's latest developments

The next big change at the intersection of Fredericksburg Road and Medical Drive is scheduled to happen the night of Thursday, August 28.

Starting at 7 p.m., Texas Sterling Construction will have significant alternating lane closures on Fredericksburg Road while crews restripe the road for the next phase of work. The traffic signals will be turned off during this work, leaving traffic direction to a flagger at the intersection. The road will be opened in time for the Friday morning commute.

For daily drivers the change means little more than a change in driving path; no lanes will be lost, an d none really gained. The width of the intersection on Fredericksburg will be greater, accommodating the width of the future through lanes as well as the eastbound and westbound access roads.thebiggest change will come for pedestrians and businesses at the intersection - most of the driveways closed for the last phase will reopen and sidewalks along the eastbound lanes of Medical will be ready for use.

The Thursday night closures will allow crews to move traffic into the final "frontage road" configuration, with eastbound and westbound traffic separated by the area the future through lanes of Medical Drive will run on. This also means construction activities will shift focus to the underpass. Project supervisors expect to be ready to build the Fredericksburg Road bridge mid-fall.