That other direct connector is about to open (and other fun stuff)

Pardon our shameless cliffhanger, but we won't get to the good stuff until later.
This morning's conference call revealed some big-time closures over the upcoming weeks. We'll give you the Cliffs Notes from what we had:


I-10 at Camp Bullis

Full closure of the westbound main lanes beginning Friday night, May 18, and continuing through Monday morning, May 21. We'll have a full closure of the eastbound main lanes June 1-4. During both closures we'll have Camp Bullis closed under I-10.
These closures are to set bridge support beams for the expansion of the main lanes. Traffic will exit Camp Bullis, continue through the intersection and re-enter the highway.
We are ensuring proper coverage by off-duty police to control traffic at the Camp Bullis intersection.


US Hwy 281
On the southbound frontage road of US Hwy 281 at Loop 1604, the left-turn lane will remain closed continuously through May 26. The south-to-north turnaround remains open.
This allows crews to work on bridge support structures overhead.


I-35 at New Braunfels Ave
We have one more bridge pour coming, but no timeframe yet from the contractor. We're working to get that so we can get the notice out and finish this project up.


Loop 1604 northwest
Expect routine overnight closures at Wiseman Boulevard while crews reconstruct the intersection and install new signal poles.
Nightly closures of the US Hwy 90 main lanes at Loop 1604 will happen through the next week or so; we'll also close nightly the west-to-east turnaround at Loop 1604. All this is for bridge work.

By the way, that little spot on the northbound main lanes of Loop 1604 just north of Marbach, where traffic squeezes down to a single lane, should open back up to two lanes by the middle of May. Webber Construction ran into a utility conflict while doing some road expansion work and have gotten that conflict resolved. Look for that to open up and provide the relief folks have clamored for by the middle of this month.
Also ... that south-to-north turnaround at US Hwy 90 should be opened by the end of the month. We know it's a month later than we'd hoped; we ran into some issues with the new traffic signals system.
Thank you for your patience on this one, and thanks for not breaking out the hammocks when stuck in traffic.


I-410 at US 90
No major closures happening beyond the nightly closures of all main lanes of I-410 at US 90; we should be done pouring concrete there by the end of next week if all goes well.


I-35 SAMMC
Overnight work continues to finish the overhead highway lights mounted to the center median. We're also working on some ramps and the frontage roads. All of this should only impact overnight traffic.
On the bright side, Lane Construction is saying they should be finished with all work by the end of June.


I-410 at Hwy 151
Here's the big one:
The new eastbound Hwy 151 connector to northbound I-410 will open this weekend.

That's right; it's happening. And it's happening much earlier than expected. The overall project completion wasn't set to happen until the end of this summer ... but we're seeing enough light at the end of the tunnel to believe we'll have this one knocked out by mid-summer at the latest. We even reported an estimated completion of this one direct connector as the end of this month when we toured the project with our staff last month, and we still beat that expectation date.
If you ask us, that's pretty cool.
Of course, in order for us to get that connector opened up we'll need major closures on eastbound Hwy 151 and northbound I-410 starting Friday night and wrapping up by Monday morning.

The bottom line: Monday's morning commuters won't have to go through the intersections of Hwy 151 and I-410 or of I-410 and Military Drive to reach the northbound lanes of I-410. Traffic will be in its final configuration instead.
This leaves one last spot of work for the project: the southbound I-410 entrance from Culebra Road. You'll see increased effort on that ramp and should see it open up by the end of June if all goes well.
Once that ramp is done Williams Brothers will go back and lay the final surface of asphalt for the project. Yes, traffic is in its final configuration ... but the road surface itself isn't final. Please don't call us to tell us how bad it is - it's temporary until the project is finished.

All major closures OFF for this weekend

We got word yesterday some closures planned for this weekend have been pushed while a few others have been added to the slate. Buckle up and we'll get straight to the point.

Called off ... for now:

I-35 at New Braunfels Avenue. We had planned a full closure of the I-35 main lanes this weekend. We've run into a scheduling issue and won't be able to get the bridge support beams on site. If we don't have beams, we can't set them - which means we won't need to close the highway. We are told by our contractor, CRG Inc., the beams will be on site and ready to be set Feb. 2-5.
Boerne Stage Road at I-10 (Leon Springs). We had nightly closures of Boerne Stage Road at I-10 scheduled beginning the night of Tuesday, January 30. This has been pushed; we do not yet have a new date. Expect to see that posted in an upcoming lane closures report.

I-410 at Hwy 151. Last weekend we had some frontage road closures to set steel support beams to finish the framework for the southbound I-410 connector to westbound Hwy 151. We were planning on this weekend being the first of three consecutive weekends with closures to install steel support beams for the eastbound Hwy 151 connector to northbound I-410. The first two weekends the main lanes of I-410 will be completely closed at Hwy 151. The detour is really straightforward: exit Hwy 151, follow the frontage road and re-enter at the next available ramp. We'll have police officers at intersections to keep folks moving.
UPDATE: So ... right at 5 p.m. this evening (Thursday) we got word from Williams Brothers Construction the 410-151 closure will NOT be happening this weekend as planned. Permit applications for the trucks hauling the oversized steel beams had not been filed on time, so the beams won't be on site. As with the I-35 at New Braunfels Ave situation we cannot set a beam we do not have.
Which means ... we really don't have any major closures set for this weekend. But next weekend? That'll be a different story.

In the future:

Closures at the intersection of I-410 and Hwy 151 will happen, weather permitting, the first three weekends of February.
We also expect an intersection closure of the eastbound frontage road of US Hwy 90 at northbound Loop 1604 February 2-4. Immediately following that work the eastbound main lanes of US 90 will close at Lp 1604 for some overhead bridge work.
And don't forget about that planned closure we talked about above of I-35 at New Braunfels next weekend. That one, we're fairly sure, is absolutely going to happen.

Mail Bag: West Military at Lp 1604, I-10 developments, FM 1103 and the New Braunfels Ave Bridge

I live in Rogers Ranch, and we see construction signs posted on Rogers Ranch Parkway for work on the intersection with 1604. Can you tell us what will be done there? We hope it will add turnaround lanes.
- Michael
Michael, we had several of your neighbors reach out on this. Perhaps you've already gotten word ... but if not, please spread the word now.
We've got a simple overlay project going on between Rogers Ranch Pkwy and Bandera Road. That means we'll be shaving off the top 2 inches or so of asphalt and replacing it with a fresh layer of asphalt. Work on the main lanes is overnight only - that stuff won't happen until we get back to warmer temperatures. During the daytime we're allowing the contractor to move forward with the frontage roads.
All told, you'll see us doing this work for the next nine months.
No turnaround lanes are coming ... yet. We do have a future project adding turnarounds, but we're about two years from seeking bids on that one. Sorry it's not sooner.

Just a quick observation on the I-10 east at 1516 frontage road conversion to one-way. Converting the frontage roads to one-way before the 1516 intersection improvements was a horrible idea and potentially more unsafe than two-way. There is lots and lots of traffic from the landfill and other businesses along the southern frontage road between Foster and FM 1516 that now has to travel east to the four-way stop at 1516. This has the frontage road extremely backed up. The exit ramp to 1516 is also backed up onto the highway causing an extremely unsafe condition of waiting to exit on the shoulder with traffic passing inches away at 70-plus miles per hour. It might be a good idea to get started on the 1516 intersection improvements soon!
- Marshall
Turnarounds at FM 1516 and Loop 1604 are not happening until a future project; those are not included in this project. That goes for the traffic signals at FM 1516 as well.
You'll see some improvement when the intersection at Woodlake Parkway is finished in 2018, and Texas Sterling Construction is working to build up the inside halves of the frontage roads so they can also build the new exit and entrance ramps. Both of these will help quite a bit.
Ultimately the decision to fast-track the conversion of frontage roads was made by our area engineer, who felt strongly this would improve safety by eliminating early the two-way frontage roads.

Why does TXDOT San Antonio keep listing Schertz as Selma in your weekly construction-related closures? Confusing.
- Concerned Citizen
We'd like to blame a map that's not incredibly clear on boundaries:

We drove through I-35 over the weekend to verify city limits and checked with our stakeholder lists, and found Selma isn't really involved here. We apologize for the error and any confusion it's brought - we should have verified this long ago. We have adjusted the most recent closures post to reflect the correction.

There have been a lot of crashes along I-10 between Boerne and 1604 since the recent construction projects. Is the traffic behaving as modeled? Should we anticipate further construction progress due to the continued development in the area?
- Rob
Any time a crash happens you can probably bet traffic isn't behaving as modeled.
We're not seeing a statistical spike in crashes along the I-10 corridor right now, but these crashes are typically more dramatic when a project is active.
As for continued development ... yes! We have a few major jobs still on their way over the next five years:

• Conversion of frontage roads to one-way between Fair Oaks Parkway and Balcones Creek
• Construction of a new overpass at Balcones Creek Parkway
• Conversion of frontage roads to one-way between Balcones Creek and Scenic Loop Road
• Conversion of frontage roads to one-way between Scenic Look Road and Hwy 46

Just to give you an idea.


What is going on with Military Drive West? We're currently on "traffic switch" number 2 but there is a new sign advising of a traffic switch on 18-18-17 - I assume that's supposed to be 10-18-17? Does this mean the traffic direction is going back to normal for now or are we going to be going sideways while driving backwards?
- Kim

Apologies for the typo in the digital message board. Those happen from time to time and we do our best to catch the issues quickly.
Where we know and have published several stages of traffic shifts, a generic "traffic switch" message on a board should alert folks to the next phase happening.
More to the point at this location: we will have the left turn lanes opened up in about a month (by time we reached the 18th we had traffic all where it started, except those turn lanes) with fresh striping to keep everyone in their lane. That will only last about 6-8 months, though, as we'll be ready to move traffic over onto the frontage road at that spot summer 2018.

I don't have a question....just a comment! I think you should KEEP the New Braunfels Avenue Bridge the way it is with the wonky arches.....it's one of a kind and a funny story!!!!
- Marci
We're glad you appreciated the story out there and are able to find some humor in it. We're still not going to keep the wonky arches. As we explained in our post the arches will be re-done once the remainder of the bridge is built and we can move traffic away from the edge there.

On the La Cantera Pkwy to Ralph Fair Rd project, I thought the work is only done on the inside lanes. Why are barriers being set on the outside as well? Also what is being done to the drain structure when going westbound right before Ralph Fair Rd light on Leon Creek? I thought that was done during the previous project?
- Danko
Let's start with the building one side and the other thing.
We're building on both sides of the road - first to the inside, then to the outside. In order to make room to fully build the new HOV lanes on the inside of the current main lanes, we're adding some "temporary" pavement to the outside. This will allow us to shift traffic over just a few feet so we can really get going on that inside lane.
As for the drain structure work that seems to be redone, we're not really re-doing any work done by Texas Sterling Construction in the previous project. Here we've got box culverts running under the main lanes of I-10 that need to be extended for the additional width of the highway.

The New Braunfels Ave bridge debacle

About a year ago we started the process of replacing the old New Braunfels Avenue overpass - the old one was damaged and prone to getting hit by semi trucks. These bridge replacements are typically done in halves so we continue to carry traffic on the bridge while it's being built.
A few weeks ago we finished the first new half of the bridge and demolished the remainder of the old bridge. The new bridge had everything - sidewalks and decorative arches included.
It looks ... well, terrible.
No two ways about it, the concrete barrier along the new portion of the overpass we're building over I-35 near the Government Hill neighborhood didn't turn out the way it was planned.

First of all, the structural integrity of the bridge is fine - the issue is purely aesthetic. It's still super embarrassing for everyone involved. With that preface, let's get through the brass tacks here.

What in the heck happened?
The arched windows of the bridge rail are made by pieces of Styrofoam inside the concrete forms. When concrete was poured these Styrofoam chunks shifted. In some cases they shifted a lot. Nobody could see what was happening until the forms were removed, which happened the weekend we demolished the remainder of the old bridge.

Who was supposed to be watching this thing?
We have a consultant group watching our construction activity on this project. SAM-Construction Services has a team overseeing the work done by CRG, our prime contractor. In order to avoid project lag they asked Bexar Metro Area Engineer Eddie Reyes if they could demolish the old bridge the same weekend they had the new portions structurally ready for traffic - something that had initially been planned to happen at least a week prior to the demo work.
Since the problem happened inside a concrete form, nobody could see the issue until the forms were wrecked. The foam cutouts couldn't be observed; there was no way to know things had floated so far out of whack.

Did TxDOT pay for it?
Project Engineer Jon Green says we only paid labor costs and for some materials; we haven't paid for the whole bridge rail. That payment will come when the rail is reconstructed correctly.

How are we fixing this?
By time this defect was discovered the old bridge had already been demolished and we needed to be able to put traffic on the new bridge, where folks are driving today. With the tight constraints of the bridge we simply don't have enough workspace to solve the problem yet.
The good news: once the remaining half of the bridge is constructed we can move traffic away from the defective rail and reconstruct it. That will be done at CRG's cost.
In the meantime the project team is re-thinking the way the forms are made to prevent this frustration from happening on the other bridge rail.

What is the bridge going to look like?
This is answered better with some pictures - you should be able to click to enlarge.
Here's the overall bridge overview:

And the detail of the arches:

No, the arches won't be pointy:

Then there's the detail of the caps breaking up the archways:

And the center column of the bridge:

Two major closures this weekend

We've got TWO major closures scheduled for this weekend. These posts typically publish much sooner - our apologies for the delay. We'll get into why in a moment. First, the closures:

I-10 at Fair Oaks Parkway
Starting Friday (8 September) at 9 p.m. all main lanes of I-10 will close at Fair Oaks Parkway while RELMCo, Inc., demolishes the old Fair Oaks Parkway overpass bridge. We'll have everything opened up by 5 a.m. Monday (11 September).
This closure will follow the same structure we've used in previous closures, with one-way traffic through the intersection and cross traffic on the bridge shut down. While we've been able to keep traffic moving pretty well during these closures drivers should still expect delays. The biggest impacts, as the last few runs of this closure, will be on those using Fair Oaks Parkway or Tarpon Drive - if that's where you will be driving you may want to find some alternate routes.

Some bridge support structures for the new Fair Oaks Pkwy

overpass have already been built.

Previous closures finished fairly quickly - way ahead of projected schedules. Do not expect that this weekend. Bridge demolition requires quite a bit of work taking a lot of extra time. We have to protect the road surface under the bridge we're tearing out, which is usually done by dumping piles of dirt or sand to form a bed. After the bridge is cut and broken apart the chunks of steel and concrete to a disposal site. Once the old bridge is completely cleared away the dirt cushion will scooped up and swept to return the main lanes of I-10 to action.
If that sounds like it's really involved, well, it is.
With the old bridge out of the way RELMCo will continue to build up the support structure for the new bridge, which will connect Tarpon Drive and Fair Oaks Parkway directly. Some of those supports are already in place.
The next major closure of I-10 at this location will come when RELMCo is ready to set bridge beams across the highway. That, too, will require a weekend for work; we'll have it posted when scheduled.

I-35 at New Braunfels Avenue
Starting Friday (8 September) at 9 p.m. all main lanes of I-35 will close at New Braunfels Avenue near Fort Sam Houston while CRG demolishes the old New Braunfels Avenue overpass bridge. We'll have everything opened up by 5 a.m. Monday (11 September). We had this closure planned for August but were forced to postpone work for a number of reasons.

This is a closure we've done in the past - the last time we interrupted work to accommodate traffic to the AT&T Center during the San Antonio Spurs' playoff run - and it's gone fairly well. To be clear: this one will hang up traffic quite a bit. I-35 is one of the most-traveled roads in all San Antonio with more than 170,000 daily trips through this corridor on average. We'll have cross traffic at New Braunfels Avenue closed as we've done in the past. We'll have the same detours in place, with traffic crossing I-35 being pushed to Walters Street to reach its destination.
Like the demolition of the Fair Oaks Parkway bridge, this closure should last the entire weekend. CRG will lay down a dirt bed before breaking apart the old bridge. Once the scraps are hauled out and the dirt bed is swept up and cleaned traffic will be running again as normal.
The big difference at this location is what traffic will do when things are finished Monday morning. Traffic at Fair Oaks Parkway is already using a temporary solution of the turnaround bridge as a normal bridge. At New Braunfels Avenue traffic will be shifted onto the new bridge half that's being finished up over the weekend.
Like the I-10 work, we should still have a few full closures ahead to set bridge beams, deck panels and to pour concrete. Most of those (at least not setting bridge beams) will be done overnight when needed. Those will be posted in our weekly closures report.

Why not post sooner?
Both closures had been planned for August. We even got to do the first of what was to be consecutive weekends with closures on I-10. Both closures were postponed for a few reasons, then got pushed again when Texas was hit by Hurricane Harvey. There was potential of pushing these closures again due to traffic issues associated with Harvey relief efforts, but traffic volumes have begun to decrease for that work and our administrative team agreed the time to move forward with our projects has come.
That decision was made today - we didn't want to post again on these closures with the chance they'd be pushed back. Again.

Major I-35 closure next weekend

UPDATE: Closure on I-35 scheduled for August 25-28 has been cancelled as of August 22. Closure on I-10 is still scheduled.


If you haven't heard by now, we have major closures of I-10 at Fair Oaks Parkway planned this weekend and next weekend. We just got word from our field staff of another closure you'll want to know about.

When
Friday, August 25 at 9 p.m. until Monday, August 28 at 5 a.m.

Where
I-35 main lanes at New Braunfels Avenue on the east side of San Antonio. Also, the New Braunfels Avenue overpass at I-35.

What
We're closing the main lanes of I-35 while crews demolish the old New Braunfels Avenue overpass. Traffic will exit New Braunfels Avenue, move through the intersection and re-enter the highway at the first available ramp. Off-duty officers will help move traffic through the New Braunfels Avenue intersection.

We are also closing the New Braunfels Avenue overpass. Traffic on New Braunfels Avenue will have right-in, right-out only access during this weekend's closure. Those hoping to cross over I-35 should do so at Walters or Pine to do so.

Why
This closure enables crews to safely demolish the old bridge, which we are replacing with this project. Any time we do work like this overhead we close the road so we don't risk catastrophe with people underneath. In this case the bridge will be demolished and pieces of the bridge will be falling onto the road beneath.

Don't worry about that road, though. Before we start the demolition crews will spread a thick bed of sand or dirt on the road to cushion the fall of debris and ensure the road is protected. After the debris is cleared away that dirt bed will be scooped and swept up. Once the work is finished and the main lanes of the highway are deemed safe we will open things up.
And no, we won't use dynamite like crews did up in Marble Falls a couple of years ago. Our guys will be using excavators mounted with hydraulic jackhammers. Not super exciting or as fun to watch as the Marble Falls bridge demo was, but it gets the job done.

Worth noting
This is one of two bridge demolitions occurring in the San Antonio area during the weekend of August 25-28. As we pointed out to begin this post, the other will be on I-10 at Fair Oaks Parkway.

Weather pushed this a few days....

We had in last week's closures list a full closure of Southbound I-35 at New Braunfels Avenue set for Tuesday and Wednesday nights this week. Because of weather the work didn't happen those nights. Project staff confirmed this morning the closures have been moved to tonight and tomorrow night, with activities beginning at 8 p.m.
Here is the new closure information:

• Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. Southbound main lanes at New Braunfels Avenue. All lanes will close while crews do overhead bridge work. Traffic will exit New Braunfels Avenue, continue along the frontage road and re-enter the highway at the next available ramp.
• Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. nightly. New Braunfels Avenue, both directions, at I-35. All lanes will close while crews do bridge work on the New Braunfels Avenue overpass. Traffic will turn right onto the frontage road and turn around to reach its destination.

Drivers should plan their overnight travel accordingly.

Overhead bridge work means full closures

Overhead bridgework pretty much always requires a full closure of some roadways. We have a quick barrage of such work across the San Antonio region and figured you'd like to know what's coming. The list is chronological.

May 8: I-35 at New Braunfels Ave
This one will be an overnight-only closure going the night of Monday, May 8 (with main lanes reopening in time for the Tuesday morning commute). All main lanes will close while crews place bridge support beams for the reconstruction and expansion of the New Braunfels Avenue bridge. Traffic will exit New Braunfels Avenue, continue through the intersection and re-enter the road.
We'll also have the bridge over I-35 itself closed for this work - all traffic crossing I-35 in the Government Hill-Fort Sam Houston area will use Walters or Pine to get across.
This is the second of several such closures we're doing on this project. Expect another coming up in the next few weeks for crews to set bridge deck panels and pour the new bridge deck. In a few months we'll be set to go through the same process - demo, bridge beams, deck panels, concrete, etc. - on the other half of the bridge.

May 15 (tentative): Marbach at Loop 1604
We have a tentative date set bridge support beams over Marbach as part of our Loop 1604 expansion project. Details for the traffic control will come as those details become available. We're planning to have a pre-work meeting in the next week or so, and we'll be sure to post details from that meeting once we've had it. Frankly, we just want folks to be aware of this right now.
The work itself, by the way, should not take long - we only have seven beams to set. That may not mean much to most of y'all ... it means we're expecting the closure to be an overnight closure only and should be done within 8 hours if things go well.

May 19-21: Walzem at I-35
This one includes a lingering closure that'll continue through August. We're closing Walzem completely for the weekend, Friday night into Sunday morning, to demo some old bridge structure so we can add the extra width to the main lanes. Traffic will turn onto the frontage road and turn around at the next intersection to reach its destination.
The turnarounds will remain closed through the summer to do bridge work - including construct the extensions to the abutments that will hold up the bridge beams in the future.
As with any area we're building a bridge, expect to see additional closures later when we're ready to set beams (near August), panels and pour concrete.

Cold temps = no asphalt work this weekend

By now you've probably heard or seen our closures set for this weekend. If not, check this out and come back to this post.

So Mother Nature is throwing a wrench in the works on us. In order to lay asphalt - like, final surface asphalt - we need to have our temperatures above 50 degrees (actually, for the type of asphalt we were planning to lay on Hwy 151 between Lp 1604 and Wiseman, it's 50 degrees and rising). This weekend ... well, we won't be that warm.

That means we'll have to cancel the closures planned at Hwy 151 and Loop 1604. Bummer, we know. That means you can resume any plans you had to be out and about in the area this weekend (yay!). Right now we don't have a firm reschedule plan, but if we end up getting overnight temperatures that are favorable next week we might be able to get this work done overnight. No promises on that, though ... we may end up having to go for January 13-15 (basically just pushing back work a full weekend). If that's the case, review the plan in this video (and, yes ... PLEASE get this word out via NextDoor and Facebook if you're in this impacted area):

But what about concrete work? Or demolition work? Temperatures don't impact that work as much. We don't have heavy winds in the forecast, so we should be on like Donkey Kong for that massive closure you've been hearing about this week at I-35 and New Braunfels Avenue. And yes, we really are taking a Spurs Break with that closure.

We're also moving forward with the closure of the westbound frontage road of Hwy 151 between I-410 and Ingram Road Saturday night, so if that's your area ... well, be aware and be ready to take Military Drive instead.

Three major closures this weekend

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Eliminate the option to turn right onto Westwood Loop when you're headed west from Hwy 151
• Eliminate the option to turn left into Santikos from the frontage road portion of Alamo Ranch Parkway coming off the Lp 1604 frontage road (those of you driving the area know what we're talking about)
• Force that left lane on the eastbound side of Alamo Ranch Parkway to enter Hwy 151 in the left entrance lane
• Offer the right lane of eastbound Alamo Ranch Parkway the option to enter Hwy 151 (via the right entrance lane) or continue to the southbound frontage road of Loop 1604

Again, we'll have more details published later this week (with pictures!), but do expect to see striping crews out there tomorrow.

The New Braunfels Ave bridge work

A few months ago - late August or early September - folks in the Government Hills area started seeing orange signs pop up around the New Braunfels Ave bridge over I-35, marking the start of a long-awaited repair to that bridge.
The bridge suffered damage after it was hit a few years ago by an 18-wheeler. Due to the damage we had to close the right southbound lane of New Braunfels Avenue over I-35 and the pedestrian access on that side of the bridge. The northbound side remained at two lanes and had a sidewalk in place for pedestrian access.
Earlier this year we were able to get the funds approved to make the needed repairs. CRG was awarded the $5 million project to replace - not just repair - the bridge.

The first phase of work is to remove the entirety of the southbound half of the bridge, moving traffic over to one lane each way on what was the northbound side - basically what you see out there today (and on the graphic to the right). While this is in place we'll have just one left-turn lane on each frontage road to avoid any conflicts with folks vying for their spot as they try to cross over I-35. All pedestrian traffic will continue to use the existing sidewalk on the east side of the bridge.
Some folks might look at the lanes we've got closed and wonder why we're not doing anything. It's a darned good question. With traffic moved, CRG really can't do anything on the project until that old southbound segment is removed and demolished. Before we let them demo that portion of the bridge (which will require a full closure of I-35, when it happens) we require they submit a demolition plan that walks us through a step-by-step run of the work. It's pretty basic stuff - most demo plans look the same - but it's a requirement we have that the contractor have that plan submitted and reviewed.
As of last week we still have not received the demo plan for this project. With lane closure restrictions starting this weekend, the earliest this work could be done is mid-January. That would at least show some progress and justify the lane closure now in place.
Though we're not quite ready to demo that section of bridge, we're leaving the closure in place as it is. Why? Two reasons. First, the volume of traffic across the bridge isn't so much we're not restricting traffic flow any more than was already done by the damaged bridge. Second, the cost to restripe the bridge and move barrier would make the whole thing some "wasted money".
In the meantime we're still pushing the contractor for those demo plans and charging time against the contract, which means they're getting squeezed to get going soon or they'll start running into financial issues on the project (liquidated damages).
This configuration will be in place until summer 2017, when we'll basically just flip traffic over onto the new side of the bridge and wreck and complete the northbound side you're driving on today.
All told, the project should finish up around the end of 2017, if all goes well.