Mail Bag: Hwy 151 at Hunt Lane, traffic counts and the future of 1604 and 151

Where can I find statistics that will tell me the approximate increase in vehicles or road usage over the last 10-15 years invarious areas of the city or county?
- Canny
So, we have maps showing the average number of trips on our roads ranging back to 2010, but not before then. You may want to check with the city or the county for traffic counts on roads not part of the TxDOT system.
When you do check out our map, keep in mind the blue numbers show the average daily traffic at that spot.

When is the Hunt Lane exit on 151 going to open?
- Sarah
What's going on with 151? Hunt Lane exit has been closed for almost 3 months when it should have been closed for 1 month. Also, it looks like they are ripping apart the walls of the highway exits. Please explain to us what it going on. My entire neighborhood is getting annoyed and confused.
- Fred
The latest schedule shows opening by Thanksgiving. We still have a retaining wall to finish up and lay asphalt out there. If Williams Brothers Construction is able to continue at their current pace we are only a matter of weeks from being ready to open things back up.
I was wondering why the lights on Alamo Ranch Parkway were not sync'd to allow traffic to flow better. Seems like you have to stop every time.
- Chris
We know you hate the answer, but those signals aren't under TxDOT control. They belong to Bexar County Public Works - they should have more information than we do about the timing strategy of that signal.

I know the original plans for the 151-1604 interchange did not include a flyover between 151-West and 1604-North. Is there any possibility of one in the near future?
- Peter
Great question, Peter. We just brought a consultant on board to study a variety of options for this location - we have to look at options with a variety of budget levels - and will begin fleshing these options out. We do not yet have funding for anything right there, but that could come as the need is quantified and the options identified clearly.
The bad news: any changes are at least a few years out, so you won't see anything coming before 2020 (barring some sort of miraculous windfall). We do want your neighbors to know we are mindful of the issue, though, and we are working on a solution.

I love how 24 hours a day 6 days a week has turned into a few minutes a day, five days a week for the 1103 bridge replacement. Heck, now you have even changed the closures to 9 am to 5 pm, hardly the 24 hours a day you advertised.
- Laughable
To be honest, Laughable, this one is the fault of our communications team. During our preconstruction meeting we asked whether we would be working around-the-clock and thought we were told that would happen. The contractor has the ability to work either day or night, and crews will be splitting time between both overnight and daytime shifts. If they work overnight, you won't see anything during the day - and vice versa. While we'll have a smattering of both, it won't be around-the-clock work as initially published.
This was a misunderstanding on our part - we are sorry.
Either way, we're still making headway on the project and will wrap up spring 2019.

Transportation Tuesday: The most congested roads in Texas aren't in San Antonio

We often are asked about congestion levels in San Antonio, and we have some actual data to back up what we say on the topic. In fact, the annual list of most congested roadways compiled by Texas A&M University's Texas Transportation Institute has recently been released and can be seen online. It's a great place to start.

What does it mean for San Antonio? Well, a couple of things.

We've got it REALLY good here

Yes, there are some sticky spots around San Antonio. We're still doing pretty darned good, though. Our average commute times are hovering right around the 25-minute mark, putting us right up there with the traffic woes of Hartford, Connecticut, and of Columbus, Ohio.

The fact is we're nowhere near the worst traffic in the United States, despite being the seventh-largest city in the country - and the largest city without some form of managed lanes on our highway system. The plain truth is that, for a city as big as we are, we've got things pretty darned good.

This doesn't mean things aren't devoid of fun when we have some rain or when a crash occurs - that always gums things up. This means under normal conditions our commute flows pretty darned well.

Statewide, by the way, Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth own more than three-fourths of the congested corridors on the list.

Our worst corridor is ... US 281

Photo credit: San Antonio Express-News

The most congested corridor in San Antonio is, officially, US 281 between Lp 1604 and Stone Oak Parkway. It's actually crept into the state-wide top-30, something no segment of roadway in San Antonio has done in more than five years. Sitting at No. 26 overall, those commuting this corridor are seeing peak travel times at 165 percent off-peak hours, leading to about 320,156 total hours of delay each year, per mile.

The good news: we've got a plan for that. We're finalizing plans to expand US 281 with overpasses and continuous frontage roads, and expect to start construction early 2017. We're doing our best to make sure construction delays are minimal, but by 2020 you should see this corridor fall rapidly off our congested corridors list.

Other areas of note across the region are I-35 between Loop 1604 and downtown (three separate segments are on the Top 100 list, ranking at 47, 53 and 66) and I-410 between US 281 and Culebra Road (again, multiple segments are on the list, ranking 72 and 75 overall). Again, we've got current or future projects moving for each of these areas to help.

All told, the San Antonio area owns eight roadway segments on the list - and already have a plan for each area.

We still have room to improve

While things are still pretty darned good, congestion is a growing headache for most of us. Our population is growing at a rate that is far greater than the capacity of our existing infrastructure - we're adding something like 50 cars to our local roads every single day. Seriously.

We're trying to get ahead of this. The Texas Transportation Commission just approved Texas’ largest transportation plan in history, with $70 billion dedicated to addressing congestion, connectivity, preservation and improving safety for drivers over the next 10 years. 

We've also got the Texas Clear Lanes initiative, led by Texas Transportation Commissioner J. Bruce Bugg, Jr. - a local from right here in San Antonio. Not only is that finding some extra funding to deal with the congestion we're seeing, it's also working with local partners to identify where and how to spend the money wisely.

Disclaimer:

The TTI study only looks at TxDOT maintained facilities, which means city and county roads are not measured in the study. This is for a number of reasons, but mostly because the traffic volume on state-owned roads is typically much higher than what you'll see on city or county roads. It really shouldn't impact the outcome of the study much, but it's worth mentioning.

Mail Bag: Potranco Road traffic, city and county projects, I-10

Could you tell me how many cars drive down Potranco Road daily? I mostly interested in the part of Potranco behind Redbird Ranch. Thank you!
-Kristi
Kristi, you're asking a question we typically get via phone. It's a great question! And, to help you really get the info you're wanting, I'll give you source material.

We have, posted online, a five-year record of our traffic counts. This will allow you to see what that segment of Potranco has been doing for five years, giving you an idea of what to expect in the future. (We don't house more than five years online for two reasons: first, records retention requires five years posted like this; second, we already host tens of thousands of pages of data online, and capping info at five years helps us minimize our IT expense.)

That said, it's worth noting there's a trick to using the data we've got posted.

When will UTEX from UTSA Blvd and the I-10 access road be completed? 
-Tim
This question is really a question for the city of San Antonio - UTEX is a city roadway. That said, the work there may be more associated with private development than with city work. That's a question to ask the folks with the city's TCI group when you visit with them.

I see construction on 471 is to begin 8-15. Is there a map of the project and what's being done, and for how long? Also, what is the plan for connecting 151/Alamo Ranch/211? and when does that start?Thanks.
- Michael
You've got a few different questions going on here, Michael. So, one at a time.
First, the Culebra Road work (FM 471) that started this week is being handled entirely by Bexar County. They've got our logo up on the project sign boards because we approved the design and, when the county is done with the project, we'll buy it back from them. It's a funding option that gets projects delivered through local participation called pass-through financing, but we digress (to be clear, this application of pass-through financing does not involve tolls). Bottom line: the county has a project information page available here, and if you've got questions at all they can be reached here.
The county also has some information about the extension of Alamo Ranch Parkway on that same info page. The biggest thing to note is ARP is being developed by private developers as they continue to build up the area and add homes (and shopping options). This is not being built by your tax dollars. Though, when developers finish, they turn it over for public maintenance. Because it's being built by private folks, though, we don't have an exact timeline on when to expect ARP to reach Hwy 211.
Oh, yeah, and Hwy 211 needs to be extended so ARP can actually connect with it. That $24 million effort is also being done by Bexar County and isn't slated to start until next year, provided all the funds match up next year.

What will happen to the (I-10) access roads from Ralph Fair Road toward 46 going west? Will they switch to one way? Will they remain two way? Right now they are still working on them. Will they widen them eventually?
What will happen at Old Fredericksburg Road coming toward the access road from Village Green and Fallbrook? Will there eventually be and underpass or overpass? I have heard both stories. Will they improve the Fair Oaks Bridge across 10. It's shaky!
- Mike
So back in March we started work on a project between Ralph Fair Road and Fair Oaks Parkway. Basically we're converting the frontage roads to one-way (which requires some widening for shoulders, curbs and sidewalks) and adding an overpass on I-10 at Old Fred Road - it'll take I-10 over a new intersection that connects Old Fred with Buckskin Drive.
We're also reconstructing the bridge at Fair Oaks and I-10, basically expanding it a la Ralph Fair. That project starts here in the fall and will wrap up in 2018.
What about beyond Fair Oaks Parkway? Well, eventually we will have one-way frontage road. Our goal is to eliminate one-way frontage roads wherever we've got a developed, metro area. We're not quite ready to do that - we need more money first - but it is on the agenda. Once we're nearing that work beyond Fair Oaks Parkway, we'll host a series of open house discussions to show y'all what we've got.

Concerning the work activity at hwy 46 and hwy 281: There needs to be a sign informing east bound Hwy 46 traffic that two lanes will merge to one. The existing one was removed for construction and has not been replaced.
Thank you for addressing this matter. It will require a follow-up with the poorly performing contractor that is presently on site. With out this sign there will be a collision and a fair amount of road rage played out.
-Tom
I'll start with the really good news: we've only got a few really light items left to have this job finished (finally) and it looks like we should wrap up this month. We're seeing CRG on the site daily (with the exception of Monday, due to weather) and we're seeing good progress. Rest assured they'll be held very accountable for dragging this project out the way they have, but we're looking at a finish in a matter of days.
As for the sign? We checked the plan sheets and no such sign is called for in the plans. That said, we've made our maintenance guys and our operations guys aware of the issue so we can have it addressed as appropriately and quickly as possible.