Wurzbach Parkway progress

The threat of rain over the weekend, and wet weather spread intermittently through the last two weeks, pushed back planned closures on Jones-Maltsberger and on Starcrest. Texas Sterling Construction did not close the roads over the weekend to lay the final surface of asphalt on these roads, opting instead to close lanes of Jones-Maltsberger daily the rest of this week.

Work will begin at 8:30 a.m. and wrap up by 4:30 p.m. each day. Paving crews will close a single lane in each direction during this timeframe, bottling traffic down to a single lane each way. This is in line with long-term traffic configurations we've had on Jones-Maltsberger during most of the project's duration.

Saturday and Sunday Texas Sterling will close Starcrest Road at Wurzbach Parkway to lay the final surface of asphalt. Traffic will follow the Parkway to a Jones-Maltsberger to reach Starcrest. Local traffic to Texas Disposal Systems and Gardenville will reach these businesses via their normal routes in and out of the facility, but the going will be a little slower. Work will begin at sunrise, with closures continuing until the work is complete.

Beyond this work, Texas Sterling still has some short portions of concrete rail to build, pavement lane markers to paint and street lights and traffic signals to turn on.  With that and the finishing touches left, project bosses are confident they'll have the Parkway opened between jones-Maltsberger and Wetmore by mid-October.

On the final segment, spanning West Avenue to Jones-Maltsberger, Williams Brothers is focusing efforts on bridge work on U.S. 281 at Bitters Road and on the Parkway overpass approaching Hwy 281. Utilities crews are working in a few drain inlet structures throughout the project and are tying in a few remaining water lines.

Project supervisors say the final segment should be complete and in us by mid-2015.

Wurzbach Parkway progress

Wetmore to Jones-Maltsbergrer

More of the work to get the Mud Creek bridge has been finished - the support columns are all formed and built; the forms for the column caps are scheduled to be delivered this week. The columns will take about two weeks (weather allowing) to finish. Once the columns are capped, bridge crews can set beams and build the bridge deck.

On the other end of this segment, paving crews are scheduled to lay asphalt on Jones-Maltsberger (the future southbound lanes) Thursday. Recent weather issues have pushed this work back a bit; project bosses had initially planned to have the work done in January. With the new asphalt in place, traffic will be moved to begin using the actual lanes planned for the respective directions. That means southbound traffic will be on southbound lanes and northbound traffic will be on the northbound lanes. Some work remains in the middle if the road - that will happen over the few weeks after the next switch - but traffic on J-M should be about where it will stay by mid-spring.

Jones-Maltsberger to West Avenue

The most visible work right now is at West Avenue and along U.S. Highway 281. At West Avenue, bridge crews are scheduled to finish pouring the bridge deck this weekend. The first half was poured last weekend ... The upcoming work will mirror what was done before. This will mean alternating lane closures starting at 6:30 Saturday morning just as we had Feb. 15. This will finish the bridge deck and allow crews to focus on the surrounding features and the barrier rail lining the bridge.

On U.S. 281, the push is on the northbound side. Dirt crews continue to build up the area for the new Wurzbach Parkway exit ramp under Nakoma while a subcontractor continues work on drain structures near the future braided ramp exiting to Blanco ans entering from Nakoma. This drain structure needs to be built before the support structures for the ramps.

Just because this segment is seen the least of the three segments, here's a look (end to end) at the work being done. Note: this video was shot during the workers' lunch hour, so don't be alarmed if you don't see a bunch of guys actually doing the work!

 

West Avenue to Blanco Road

The last remaining piece of this segment is the Blanco Road overpass, which remains unopened until the bridge deck surface issue is resolved. Again, it's not a structural issue but a ride-quality issue; the kind of subtle dips in that bridge deck currently existing can make the drive less comfortable that we like. It also creates a potential for puddling when rains fall.

Here's the bottom line: project bosses are targeting spring break to have the Blanco Road overpass prpopen to traffic. Several factors can impact this, including approval of a batch of asphalt mix (that is in the hands of the Vulcan Materials Company), weather (that's in the hands of a Power higher than us at TxDOT) and equipment (that's on the shoulders of Clark Construction).

Liberty Mutual has approved a plan to address the bridge deck surface; a subcontractor (enter Clark Construction) will add a surface layer of asphalt to smooth the road. Clark's equipment is scheduled to be repaired and ready to go this week; asphalt should be ready by the weekend. If the weather holds - TxDOT specifications require temperatures higher than 60 to lay asphalt - we should be able to get the work done by spring break.

Here's a look at the bridge:

 

Wurzbach Parkway: lots of work along U.S. 281 (and some at West Ave., too)

The northbound entrance ramp from Nakoma Drive has been replaced with a temporary ramp nearer to Bitters Road, allowing Williams Brothers Construction to begin more aggressive work on adjustments to the U.S. 281 corridor near Wurabach Parkway.

The new temporary ramp for traffic coming from Nakoma onto the northbound U.S. 281 main lanes will allow work to progress quickly along this corridor.

That includes constructing braided ramps - that is, an exit ramp bridged over an entrance ramp - in the vicinity of the old entrance ramp. The braided ramp will serve traffic exiting to Bitters Road and traffic entering northbound U.S. 281 from Nakoma Drive and Wurzbach Parkway. Before the visible structures can be built there, though, trenching crews will finish the complex drain structures in the area. That should be finished in March.

Saturday morning, 6 a.m., bridge crews will close alternating lanes of West Avenue to pour the overpass bridge deck. Work will continue through the day; project managers anticipate clearing out of the work zone around 6 p.m. As long as nothing squirrely happens through the day, we'll keep one lane open in each direction.

The West Avenue overpass bridge has been prepped for concrete. Alternating lanes of West Avenue will close Saturday while crews pour concrete on the first half of the bridge deck.

Saturday's pour will complete half the overpass bridge. Next week's weather forecast will determine when the second half of the bridge gets poured; if it's warm enough, bridge builders will pour the second half overnight next week. If overnight temperatures are too cold (concrete work typically requires temperatures above 40 degrees) we'll have to push the second-half work to next Saturday.

As for the Blanco Road overpass ... It's still in Liberty Mutual's court (that is, the decision on when to open the overpass). That said, Texas Sterling reports pavement crews are scheduled to address the bridge deck surface issues in the upcoming weeks with the goal of opening the overpass in March. 

MAJOR TRAFFIC SWITCH: Starcrest Lane at Wurzbach Parkway

Traffic on Starcrest Lane moved one step closer to its final configuration Tuesday when Texas Sterling Construction moved traffic through the new intersection of Wurzbach Parkway and Starcrest Lane. The switch will bring a ripple effect of traffic switches in the vicinity impacting park-goers, daily commuters and those working along the industrial northeast end of the San Antonio Airport.

Starcrest Lane now officially dead-ends into Wurzbach Parkway near the Texas Disposal Systems trash dump site. Eastbound traffic is now running under the parkway overpass, then along the eastbound access road before crossing over Mud Creek on the bridge built more than a year ago. Westbound traffic runs over the Mud Creek bridge before using the access road to seamlessly merge into the old path of Starcrest at the trash dump.

The switch will require crews to close Buckhorn Drive - the south entrance to McAllister Park - in order to construct the road base and final pavement surface of the full parkway immediately at that intersection. Temporary driveways have already been built to satisfy traffic for the week, but next week (Monday through Friday) access to the park will be limited to the access points along Jones-Maltsberger. When crews are done, longer driveways will be in place, lined with barrels. This work will make more difficult the left-turns into or out of the park people have been trying to make for more than a year.

Left turns along Starcrest have been prohibited nearly two full years.

The closure of the Buckhorn Drive intersection will not impact hikers or bikers on the Salado Creek Greenway. Those using the shared-use path should use caution in the area and stay out of the active work area. The trail will continue crossing at the temporary crosswalk until the westbound bridge over Mud Creek is completed in early 2014.

The traffic switch also opens up Northeast Entrance Road, affording service to those working at the northeast end of the San Antonio Airport. With Northeast Entrance Road open, crews plan to close East Bitters Monday at the county brush site. The closure on East Bitters is permanent; the road will dead-end into a culdesac at the parkway. Texas Sterling will begin building the parkway up at the crossing of East Bitters, connecting the final piece of the parkway still totally lacking any kind of structure.

Finally, the switch will allow crews to demolish the old and dilapidated lanes of Starcrest. Some of the road will be rebuilt, but a large portion will be forever obliterated and returned to greenspace. For more on the progress of Wurzbach Parkway, click here.